Category: News and Stories

Gift from a Child is a national initiative supported by families who have lost children to brain cancer, private foundations, researchers and medical professionals. It currently receives its funding from the Swifty Foundation.

Head for the Cure and Brains for the Cure is proud to partner with world-renowned hospitals and organizations across the country as beneficiary partners for Head for the Cure’s 5K run/walks.

I was able to attend The Society of Neuro-Oncology annual meeting in November 2022 and learned an amazing amount about what the field is focusing on and how it can pave the way for future treatments of this horrible disease.

DJ utilized the innovative Tumor-Treating Fields technology by wearing the Optune device for 2 years. Last year, DJ joined the Head for the Cure staff as its Community Outreach Coordinator.

For the first time in 12 years, glioblastoma patients in Canada have a new treatment option.

A brain tumor diagnosis can be overwhelming, but fortunately, various proven FDA-cleared and FDA-approved treatment options are available.

A brain tumor patient will encounter numerous specialists and need to make a multitude of decisions throughout their journey. With these factors and more, navigating cancer care can be overwhelming.  For patients with glioblastoma (GBM), management is even more challenging due to their poor prognosis, feelings of isolation, need for treatment, and cognitive decline associated with this rare and progressive disorder. For these reasons, shared decision-making (SDM) must be integrated into standard practice so that patients’ expectations and goals are considered when discussing and weighing the risks and benefits of treatments.

President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the entire Biden-Harris Administration are reviving Cancer Moonshot. While serving as Vice President, Joe Biden initially launched Cancer Moonshot. With this renewed energy, the administration has set incredible goals “to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years, and improve the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer— and, by doing this and more, end cancer as we know it today.”

The Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute and SonALAsense announced positive results in their first-in-human Phase 0/1 clinical trial of SDT in recurrent glioblastoma patients. The initial results were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress today by Nader Sanai, MD, Director of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center. “The Ivy Center’s Phase 0/1 study has shown a promising translation of the preclinical results of SDT in patients with glioblastoma.

Since I started my training, there was the establishment of what’s currently the standard of care. Which is the concurrent use of radiation and temozolomide and adjuvant temozolomide. That, unfortunately, has not changed though, in the last 15 years. So although I got to see the transformation of the field and maybe for the first time, a large number of patients who have five years and beyond survival, we still have not been able to really make that a reality for a majority of patients. So we’ve unfortunately had some limitations in the advancements since that time.