All Parents Should Be ‘Outraged’ By The Battle Against Juvenile Brain Cancer

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : September 9, 2021

René Marsh, like many other new parents, experienced a “transformation” in March of 2019 when her newborn son Blake was given to her by a nurse. In the words of Marsh, who works as a media reporter, “it’s like someone is handing you your heart.” “My first reaction to him from the moment I took his hand in mine was to protect him.

All Parents Should Be ‘Outraged’ By The Battle Against Juvenile Brain Cancer

The only thing that mattered in my life was making sure that Blake was healthy and had all he needed. “When Andrew Kaczynski, a media investigative reporter, looked at an early ultrasound and saw what seemed to be a “bean,” he knew it was the right time.

All Parents Should Be 'Outraged' By The Battle Against Juvenile Brain Cancer

Kaczynski and Marsh both have lost their children to juvenile brain cancer, which is a terrible truth that they had to face. 9-month-old “Bean” died on Christmas Eve last year, only three months after being diagnosed with leukemia. Blake succumbed to his courageous fight soon after reaching the age of two.

Every year in the United States, about 5,000 children are diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer, which is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 15. However, medical understanding of how to treat brain cancer in children lags significantly behind other types of cancer in adults. Why?

During this month-long campaign to raise awareness of childhood illness, Blake and Bean’s parents are speaking out to let you know how important you are in the battle against children’s brain cancer. Adult cancer is often linked to a variety of lifestyle factors, including smoking, drinking, consuming processed and red meats, being overweight, having chronic inflammation, and not getting enough exercise, to mention a few.

Children, on the other hand, have not yet mistreated their bodies in this manner. The majority of childhood malignancies are believed to be the consequence of an error in the way cells replicate their DNA during the infant’s development, which occurs during the first few months of life.

Perhaps the mother was exposed to radiation or some chemical or environmental pollutant when she was in the womb in today’s contemporary society. Is it a genuine unfortunate random aberration, or is it something else entirely? According to the American Cancer Society, “the origins of DNA alterations in the majority of pediatric malignancies remain unknown at this time.”

The lack of information is caused by a lack of research, which in turn is caused by a lack of financial resources. In 2018, it was projected that just 4% of the approximately $6 billion funding allocated to the government-sponsored National Cancer Institute is allocated to pediatric cancer, which includes all children’s malignancies in part due to the fact that pediatric tumors are “rare.” “Pediatric cancer is not as uncommon as you would assume, with one in every 285 children developing cancer before reaching the age of 20. That isn’t all that uncommon, to be honest. “Weinstein made the statement.

Research funding for pediatric brain cancer is much more restricted than that for other types of cancer. Until two years ago, according to Weinstein, no targeted medication treatment had ever been effectively created to treat any of more than 200 different kinds of juvenile brain tumors that exist today.


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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