We've come a long way. Almost 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer survive, as do over 60 percent of cancer-diagnosed adults. Cancer is no longer an immediate death sentence.
We've got a long way to go. 560,000 Americans die each year from cancer, and 1.2 million will be diagnosed with some form of the disease this year.
The cancer research world is full of advances and setbacks, but we have those advances to thank for the ever-improving survival rates. And we have researchers and doctors like those at Dana-Farber to thank for those advances. They are creating more advanced tools for early detection of cancer. They are developing new drugs and new combinations of drugs to treat cancer more effectively and with fewer side effects. They are engineering new radiation techniques and identifying better surgical options to treat cancer patients. They are finding the factors that cause cancer in order to prevent the disease. They are providing their patients with the fantastic results of their cutting-edge research. They are saving lives.
The Pan-Mass Challenge supports the work of Dana-Farber's doctors and researchers in a huge way. Since 1980, the PMC has contributed over $200 million ($33 million last year alone!) to the Jimmy Fund, Dana-Farber's fundraising arm. The extensive and life-saving research and treatment at Dana-Farber is happening in large part due to the PMC's countless supporters.
Dr. Edward J. Benz, President of Dana-Farber, recently stated the following in a letter to last year's PMC riders: "Your PMC funds this year will allow us to make major investments in people, equipment, and research projects that will allow us to accelerate our research momentum despite flat federal research funding. Major new initiatives in medicinal chemistry, imaging, cancer genomics, and experimental drug development will move forward because [of] the funds you generate..."
We really have come a long way. We still have a long way to go.
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