was stage IV. “It had reached her central nervous system and her spine. She was bone marrow positive and there were lesions all over her body,” Lisa says.
NORTHEAST
Northern Virginia Family Looks Forward
Katie Vaughan celebrated her 6th birthday in July 2011 with cupcakes – and joy. “She’s a wonderfully spirited child,” says her mom, Lisa. “She just joined the competitive gymnastics team and they have no idea she had cancer. I don’t want them to treat her any differently.”
By the time she was diagnosed with Burkitt’s, a type of
non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, in May 2008, Katie’s cancer
Not yet 3 years old at the time, Katie was given a 50/50 chance of surviving if she made it through the first few days of treatment. She underwent four months of chemotherapy at Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children and the Children’s National Medical Center clinic.
“There’s no easy cancer protocol out there for adults or children, and hers was really the most intense it can get chemo-wise. “But, Katie’s sense of strength and intensity served her well during her cancer treatments,” says Lisa.
Katie had her last chemo treatment at home, on Halloween, 2008, and promptly fell asleep in her Supergirl costume. Even before Katie’s treatment was over, Lisa and her husband, Jay, knew they wanted to do something “to give back to the organization whose clinical trial saved Katie’s life.”
“When I asked our oncology nurse where I should focus my time and energy, she suggested CureSearch.”
The Vaughan family played an integral part in the success of the inaugural CureSearch Walk – Fairfax in 2010. Raising more than $17,000 for Team Katie, Lisa chaired the Fairfax Walk committee. “I have a background in the scientific community, and I really wanted to do something from that angle so other kids wouldn’t have to face what Katie did in the future. I wanted to go where we could make the biggest difference.”
More than 600 people participated in the Fairfax Walk and the Vaughan family is looking forward to the 2011 event.
Jeffrey Dome, MD, PhD Optomistic About Discovering New Wilms Tumor Genes
As current chair of the Renal Tumor Committee for the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), Jeffrey Dome, MD, PhD, oversees clinical trials for Wilms tumor and other children’s kidney cancers at more than 200 children’s hospitals. “The COG and CureSearch are critical for moving the field forward,” says Dome. “Wilms tumor has been a great example of how cooperative group research can lead to significant advances in therapy.”
Although, cure rates are more than 85% for Wilms tumor patients with favorable histology, Dr. Dome says many more patients are needed for clinical trials to find further improvements in outcomes – and to test novel approaches to therapy for patients with less common kidney cancers with less favorable outcomes.
“The Renal Tumor Committee is doing very exciting work looking at gene expression and sequencing of the genomes of high-risk Wilms tumors,” says Dr. Dome. “I’m very optimistic that we’re going to discover new genes that cause Wilms tumor in the next year or so, and also genes associated with adverse outcomes. Knowing the genes that are associated with relapse and anaplastic (unfavorable) histology
Jeffrey Dome, MD, PhD, Oncology Chief, Children’s National Medical Center Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
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