Nemours Fund for Children’s Health is pleased to announce that the Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware (LRFDE) has made a grant of $50,000 to support research being conducted by oncologist E. Anders Kolb, MD, Director of the Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. The studies, being carried out in collaboration with Dr. Peter Houghton of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, test new anti-cancer compounds in laboratory models.
Although 80 to 85 percent of children with leukemia are cured with radiation and chemotherapy, there are often toxic side effects. If a child treated for leukemia suffers a relapse, the survival rate is only 30 percent. Consequently, the search for new, less toxic drugs is of great importance.
The Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware, founded by Denni Ferrara of Middletown, Delaware, is dedicated to funding researchers who are making vital discoveries that lead to a better understanding of blood cancers, their treatments, and the effects on the patient.
Mrs. Ferrara’s daughter Natalia suffered from acute lymphocytic leukemia at age three. She was treated at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and is now a healthy teenager. Nemours Fund for Children’s Health is grateful to the Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware for its generosity in providing funding to help conquer leukemia and other blood cancers.