The Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation (Inc.) is a charity organization based in Australia. Its aim is to foster medical research into cancers among children and to encourage advancement in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the illness. For more than 30 years, this charity organization has been dedicated to its work of raising funds for advanced research into childhood cancers, brain tumors and leukaemia.

History:

The formation of The Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation (Inc.) is inspired by the story of a nine year old girl named Jennifer Harper. She was diagnosed in 1977 with Leukaemia. But unfortunately there was no research work being done on children’s Leukaemia in Western Australia at that time. Jennifer’s father Peter Harper then set out to raise funds for this purpose. He joined with the parents of other children with cancer and worked for the creation of a research foundation. Although Jennifer could not win her fight against Leukaemia and died in 1978. But she gave the people a vision to save other children around Australia from this disease. And finally The Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation (Inc.) was established with the support of Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. A Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Laboratory was formed at the children’s hospital in 1983 and a scientist was recruited to head the laboratory from German Cancer Institute. The research laboratory has since then been playing a vital role in the treatment of children with cancer in Western Australia.

Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Laboratory:

The research laboratory since its inception has been participating in new chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients which have increased the number of patients surviving childhood Leukaemia in Western Australia. The research laboratory has managed to identify over 50 types of childhood Leukaemia and cancer till date. It is also busy in the development of specific cancer treatments with the collaboration of expert scientists and clinicians. The laboratory along with the hospital developed a Children’s Cancer Group (CCG) which is the largest cooperative cancer research groups in the field. It has maintained a CCG protocol which has patients enrolled, so that their cases are studied under scientific expertise. The Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Laboratory has played an important part in increasing Leukaemia survival with the establishment of Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at the children’s hospital in Western Australia. Another achievement that attributes to the laboratory’s success is the Cancer Cell Cultivation; the laboratory is well renowned for its expertise in this field. It is a pioneer in growing cancer and leukaemia cells in the laboratory. Cancer research institutes in France, England, USA, Japan and Netherlands are all recipients of cell lines grown in Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Laboratory.

Three Boys Legacy:

The Three Boys Legacy is a charity organization that was established in 1998, by the families of three boys named Matthew Webb, Ricky Wannberg and Justin Ward, who lost their lives to brain tumors in 1996. It came under the patronage of Children’s Leukaemia and Research Care Foundation in 1998 and has its own research team.

Collaboration and Fund Raising:

The children suffering from Leukaemia and cancers require a high level of observation and care which are adequately maintained and provided by the hospital in lines with the research undertaken in the Children’s Luekaemia and Cancer Research Laboratory. The specialists and scientists in the laboratory are continuously upgrading their research on Luekaemia and cancer treatment. The improvements in the cancer treatments brought forward by this laboratory is helping cancer patients across Australia and worldwide. The foundation has made it its goal to ensure that high level research continues for the benefit of all the children who suffer from this disease. The Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation gives funds for research work every three years. A team of specialists inspect the work done by the research laboratory and submit grant for the next fund after consideration.

Children’s Luekaemia and Cancer Research Laboratory collaborate with a number of institutes in provision of cell lines developed from the patients’ cancer cells in test tubes. The list of the institutes situated around the globe is as follows:

• Medical Research Council, England.
• Institute of Cancer Research, England
• University of Cambridge, England
• University of Surrey, England
• The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands
• Institute of Genetics and Molecular Biology, France
• Harvard Medical School, USA
• University of California, USA
• University of Chicago, USA
• The Children’s National Medical Centre, USA
• DNAZ Research Institute, USA
• National Human Genome Research Institute, USA
• Kobe University, Japan
• Sydney Children’s Hospital, Australia
• Royal Brisbane Hospital, Australia
• Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Australia
• King Edward Memorial Hospital, Australia
• Department of Biochemistry, University of WA, Australia
• QEII Medical Centre, Australia
• WA Centre for Pathology and Medical Research, Australia
• Canterbury Health Labs, Newzealand

In the initial days of the Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation (Inc.), the children diagnosed with leukaemia had only a thirty percent chance of survival. However, today the rate of survival is eighty percent. All these efforts go down to the research and funds raised by the foundation for the cure of children suffering from luekaemia, cancer and brain tumors. The research is continuously being done for finding better and reliable ways to diagnose and treat these illnesses.

The foundation that started by nothing more than a mere effort of the concerned parents in bringing this disease out of the void and into the light of research, has grown up to become one of the best and most advanced cancer research centers in the world. Jennifer Harper, being the cause behind the establishment of this organization, herself died of Leukaemia at her childhood. It is because of her that today the whole world is well aware of the services and contributions of the scientists who have researched tirelessly for the treatment of Leukaemia. The Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation is now a name well renowned in Cancer Research throughout the world.