CureSearch Walk - Portland

On Saturday August 6th families, patients and childhood cancer survivors gathered for the CureSearch for Children's Cancer walk in Sellwood Riverfront Park.  PCB program members Emma, Janelle and Jen were early rising volunteers.  The event was inspiring to see the young childhood cancer patients telling their stories, survivors showing that childhood cancer is an often survivable disease - but also to see the way in which children who have not been so fortunate are remembered and honored (in this case, with a butterfly release).  Speaking were both OHSU Doernbecher Pediatric Hematology/Oncology division chief, Dr. Linda Stork, and OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Director, Dr. Brian Druker.  The event raised more than $36,000 for childhood cancer clinical research nationally and in Portland.  
  
[ right:  Dr. Stacy Nicholson (neuro-oncologist and OHSU Chair of Pediatrics); Linda Stork; DCHF mascot "Dolly" ]

Be The Match/Be The One Run-Portland, July 17th

Join Team OHSU!  

  

The Be The One Run is coming to Portland Oregon on July 17, 2011. This is a walk/run event for people of all ages and fitness levels and includes a 5K, a 1K and a short-distance Tot Trot to benefit the Be The Match Registry.

The Be The Match Registry is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program ands its mission is to make bone marrow transplantation possible for all patients in need, by increasing the number and diversity of donors, providing patient assistance and advancing research in the field of bone marrow transplantation. The program has facilitated more than 43,000 since its inception in 1987.  In 2010, nearly 723,000 potential bone marrow donors were added to the registry and new mothers donated more than 36,000 umbilical cord blood units.  Even though there are more than 9 million donors and 185,000 cord blood units available through the Be The Match Registry, there is still a need for more.

Be The Match is engaging individuals who are motivated to help grow the registry, volunteer, and provide financial support for patients and their families. Portland is one of the first cities in the country selected to hold the Be The One run event because of the close working and service relationship between our community and Be The Match. Portland has the only donor recruitment center in our region. OHSU and Doernbecher are the only center performing unrelated donor bone marrow and cord blood transplants for adults and children in the state. Several of the physicians at the Knight Cancer Institute and Doernbecher are national leaders in bone marrow transplantation research, donor and patient advocacy.

Everyone is invited to participate! You can join as part of the OHSU team, as an individual or form a new team.  You can also help by spreading the word, volunteering for the event or making a financial contribution. More information at www.BeTheOneRun.org.

  

[ content kindly provided by Eneida Nemecek, Doernbecher BMT Program ] 

Trading Hair for Hope

Our heartfelt support goes to the "DCH Razor your heads for the cure" team including DCH resident, Katie Oldread, who this year are shaving their heads to raise funds for the St. Baldrick's Foundation and childhood cancer research.  Pledges are said to be welcome, here.  

  

Pediatric Cancer Biology Nanocourse

Congratulations to the five high school students selected for the Childhood Cancer Nanocourse & Internship for Key Club Students in August 2011.  The course will give students didactic training in childhood cancer treatment, clinical trials and basic science research.   The experience will also include individual research project assignments, with the opportunity to collaborate with fellow student scientists.  This Nanocourse sponsored by the OHSU Pediatric Cancer Biology Program is modeled after the AACR Physician-Scientist workshop held each year in Aspen, Colorado, which is for the brightest young minds and future biomedical leaders.  As the selected 5 high school Key Club students have demonstrated, however, it is never too early to start!
  

 

Inaugural CureSearch Walk, Portland

Please save the date, Saturday August 6, for the inaugural Portland CureSearch Walk.  The walk will be at the Sellwood Riverfront Park.  To register your walk team, see the website www.curesearchwalk.org/portland or email Denise Bayles-Muniz at denise.bayles (at) curesearch.org.  


CureSearch is the funding support agency of the Children's Oncology Group, which organizes some of the largest clinical trials for pediatric cancers in the US.  

Our thanks to Oregon & Washington Kiwanis

Today the Oregon and Southern Washington Kiwanis visited the Doernbecher Children's Hospital Cancer Program that they have supported since the 1980's -- first in developing the bone marrow transplant facility, and most recently in supporting the clinical training and research development of bright young physicians training in pediatric hematology-oncology.  The funds raised by the Kiwanis and Key Club groups are hard-earned... a dollar at a time.  For this reason, it means so much more that the Kiwanis can support trainees here and at Seattle Childrens on an ongoing basis.  The Kiwanis dedication to children with cancer in Oregon and Washington is truly unending and without parallel.

To see the video, click here.  

OHSU Doernbecher Pediatric Cancer Program will represent Oregon on StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening, Nov. 26

Sarcoma patients, their families, physicians, nurses and volunteers will gather at OHSU Doernbecher on the day after Thanksgiving to preserve their stories for future generations. 

StoryCorps, one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, has asked the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology division at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital to be an official representative in Oregon for the 2010 National Day of Listening.

About 25 OHSU Doernbecher patients, family members, volunteers, nurses and physicians will preserve their stories of courage, strength and hope for future generations by recording an interview with someone they care about. All of the patients have, or have had, sarcoma, a cancer that occurs in the muscle, fat, fibrous tissue, blood vessels or other supporting tissue of the body. A synopsis of their stories will be posted on the “Wall of Listening,” on the National Day of Listening Web site and recorded on a free CD to share.

“We hope to eventually expand on StoryCorps’ ‘National Day of Listening’ and allow all of our patients to be interviewed,” said Rae Acosta, R.N., research nurse coordinator in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

WHERE:        OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital first-floor lobby, 700 S.W. Campus Drive, Portland

WHEN:           Friday, Nov. 26, at 9 a.m.

DETAILS:      The 2010 “National Day of Listening” marks the first time StoryCorps has had "official state representatives." To become an official state representative, organizations must conduct at least five National Day of Listening interviews with members of their organization or others in their community and post a summary of those interviews on the "Wall of Listening."

This outreach initiative was made possible through a National Cancer Institute grant resulting from the Carolyn Price Walker Act. The grant, awarded to Charles Keller, M.D., F.A.A.P., and Melissa Hill of the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation, specifically allocates resources for a StoryCorps Outreach Initiative.  Credit for the project concept goes to Dr. Linda Stork, Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.  The Co-organizing the StoryCorp project with Acosta is Keller laboratory research scientist Jennifer Alabran.

The National Day of Listening is a new national holiday started by StoryCorps in 2008. On the day after Thanksgiving, StoryCorps asks all Americans to take an hour to record an interview with a loved one, using recording equipment that is readily available in most homes, such as computers, iPhones, and tape recorders, along with StoryCorps’ free Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide. StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.

This information is also at:  http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/about/news_events/news/2010/2010-11-24-ohsu-doernbecher-pe.cfm   

Kiwanis Childrens Fair in St Helens

The Pediatric Cancer Biology Program was honored to participate in the Kiwanis Children's Fair in St Helens, Oregon.  This event raises awareness of child safety issues as well as educates and entertains.  The Pediatric Cancer Biology Program had a booth with 3D images of scientific topics.  We sincerely thank the Kiwanis for activities like this one that support the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Fellowship Program at Doernbecher Children's Hospital (OHSU).