Melissa Bento’s daughters Mia and Gabby were in elementary school when an acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis changed their family forever. Mia, who was just 5 years old, faced grueling treatments. Gabby, who was just 8 years old, faced time on the sidelines of the fight. Her mom signed her up for ... Read More
The Childhood Cancer Blog
Welcome to The Childhood Cancer Blog
from Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation!
This year 17,000 children were diagnosed with childhood cancer. Photo by Ryan Kurtz.
Childhood cancer affects the entire family. SuperSibs, a program of ALSF, provides comfort and care support to siblings. Photo by John Ransom.
Each year, ALL survivor Mia hosts a lemonade stand with her SuperSib Gabby
Flashes of Hope has photographed over 1,500 families. Photo by Wendy Zins
Philip, who diagnosed at 3 years old with neuroblastoma, looks on as his mom Wendy meets Alex Scott's mom, Liz, for the first time. Both mothers shared the bond of having children who faced ALK-driven neuroblastoma.
Arden is now 5 years old. Like Philip, she was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma. This year, the results of the trial that saved her life were published in Nature Medicine.
ALSF funded-researcher Dr. Yael Mossé (pictured above) is the lead author on a new paper published in Nature Medicine. The paper shares the results of Dr. Mossé’s clinical trial for lorlatinib, a targeted therapy that showed success treating children with neuroblastoma tumors harboring the ALK mutation.
In 2023, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation saw all the hard work, dedication and research pay off in a big way for children with cancer. From high-impact publications to breakthroughs to funding new projects, ALSF continued its commitment to finding safer treatments and cures for all childhood with cancer.
The best part: It is all fueled by lemonade.
Here are the top childhood cancer research stories from 2023:
1. Over 100 awarded grants—114 to be exact--funded in 2023
From extending grant funding for researchers close to breakthrough to funding student... Read More
Cancer took some of Atlas’s childhood and part of his left arm, but it hasn’t taken his spirit.
“Atlas has gone through more in his 21 months of life than some people go through their entire lives. Through it all he has remained so positive and always has a huge smile on his face,” says his mom, Alison.
Atlas was 8 months old when he fell and fractured his arm. After a few casts, his parents noticed a peculiar bump remained on his wrist, and it wouldn’t go away. Later, they learned that it was a tumor called undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma, and it was eating away at... Read More
