VARI launches fight vs. kids' cancer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - For the parents of children with cancer, the dates of diagnosis are as memorable as their birthdays.

For Melissa Block and her husband Matt, it was Dec. 4, 2009.

"It turns your world upside down," said Block, recalling the day doctors told the couple that their daughter, 20-month-old Claire, had neuroblastoma -- cancerous tumors that account for 15% of all pediatric cancer deaths in the United States.

Claire is part of the 30% of children who survive the childhood form of cancer. She is in remission.

"She's bouncing back, and we're finally seeing what it's like to have a normal 3-year-old who plays actively and runs around with her little brother," Block said.

Van Andel Research Institute's program will combine the work of 11 universities and children's hospitals from across the U.S., to find a way to battle neuroblastoma and similar diseases -- which, unlike leukemia and other pediatric cancers, has not seen cure rates increase for about 30 years.

"In the last 20 to 30 years, the cure rates for leukemia are now at 90% for children with cancer," said Dr. Giselle Sholler, a nationally recognized pediatric oncologist and part of the Pediatric Cancer Transitional Research Program at VARI. "When we diagnose a child with leukemia, we expect them to be cured. In the solid tumors, it's not quite so exciting in the cure rates. So, our particular tumor that we study, neuroblastoma, as well as other solid tumors that we're looking at ... we want to make that difference.

"And I think with the research that's available here and the new therapy that we can bring to these kids, we can do that here now."

Although the rate of cancer breakthrough continues to grow, the cures still take time. Sholler estimates her group will come up with something in the next five to 10 years, including up to two years of lab development.

Then, there's two trial phases. Phase 1 lasts one to two years and Phase 2 lasts two to four years.

Sholler said the research averages about $600,000 a year. The majority of National Cancer Institute funding goes to adult cancers, she added. Most of the money to research cancers her team deals with, is raised through groups headed by the parents of childhood cancer patients.

And as the research continues, so does the chance that answers can be unlocked to other cancers, and provide hope to parents such as Block, who've already been through so much.

"You're always going to feel like you have that other shoe waiting to drop over your shoulder," Block said. "And I'm not sure I'll ever be able to relax and breath."