Children's Cancer Fund

The Children's Cancer Fund is dedicated to finding cures for childhood cancer by funding pediatric cancer research, treatment, education and patient care programs at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's Medical Center and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. CCF was founded in 1982 by a coalition of parents whose children were receiving cancer therapy at Children's Medical Center. The organizers have since been joined by community leaders, dedicated volunteers and health professionals in their fundraising efforts. CCF is one of the nation's leading fundraising groups in support of local research toward the treatment and prevention of childhood cancers.

CCF has donated more than $7 million to advance pediatric cancer research in the Dallas area. Among the programs supported by CCF are the National Institute of Health Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program at Children's Medical Center and the Children's Cancer Fund Comprehensive Center for Research in Pediatric Oncology, which is gaining a national reputation for its work in eradicating childhood cancers. In 2002, CCF initiated a patient-care program at Children's Medical Center serving the outpatient unit at the CCBD for cancer patients and their families during their visits to the clinic.

Each year, approximately 7,500 outpatient visits and 1,100 hospital admissions at Children's Medical Center Dallas involve children with cancer. In Dallas, nearly 200 children and adolescents each year are newly diagnosed with cancer at Children's Medical Center alone, with more than 600 children receiving therapy at any given time. Childhood cancer does not discriminate. It touches children from all cultural backgrounds, social and economic groups in the greater North Texas community. Children's Cancer Fund seeks to improve the survival rate and increase the quality of life for these children and their families.