Happy Holidays
Happy Hanukkah to all of our Jewish friends!
Exciting Research Update
We are thrilled to share with you that The B+ Foundation has provided a second research grant to the Ben Towne Childhood Cancer Center (BTCCC) at Seattle Children's Hospital to support their fascinating work on immunotherapy. Last week, the BTCCC issued a press release with the latest update on the 13 patients enrolled in the trial. In short, immunotherapy involves removing the patient's T-cells, re-programming them to fight the cancer, and re-inserting them into the patient's body as a possible alternative (or perhaps in combination) with traditional chemotherapy protocol. Needless to say, immunotherapy could prove to be tremendously less toxic on the child's body with significantly fewer side effects. The study of immunotherapy is still early on in its development, but VERY promising.
Please see the preliminary results, as noted in last week's press release, with the staggering great news.
"The trial includes patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who have relapsed after a bone marrow transplant and typically have only a 10% to 20% chance of survival with standard treatment. Using immunotherapy, which reprograms the body’s T cells to hunt down and destroy cancer cells, researchers have seen an 85% complete remission rate."
This could be truly revolutionary. There are a few centers in the country aggressively working on immunotherapy and we wish them all nothing but the best success. A "rising tide lifts all boats".
We are proud to be one of the many supporters of the BTCCC at Seattle Children's Hospital. We couldn't do it without you! Thank you.
We have also recently provided a second grant to the Dana-Farber/Harvard Medical Center for some great work they are doing. We will keep you posted on the progress.
I hope everyone has a great - and safe- weekend. Keep the craziness of the holiday shopping in perspective. And, please during this holiday season, keep our B+ Heroes in your prayers. Honestly, they don't need toys and gifts right now (everyone comes out of the woodwork this time of the year)...they need your prayers. And, if you want to give them gifts, drop them off at the hospitals in March or August when no one else is doing it. :)
B+
Ali & Andrew's Dad