Students in leadership positions learn about brain tumors and gain real world experience in running a non-profit business while raising funds for brain tumor research. Beneficiaries of the money we raise are Barrow Neurological Institute, National Brain Tumor Society, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Translational Genomics Research Institute, and University of Arizona.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world..." Gandhi
ANGEL’S STORY - as told by Angel's mother
On May 4, 2018 Angel Carden was like any ordinary 8 year old boy. He was just finishing up 3rd grade and enjoying the last days of Little League Baseball. After a day on the baseball field, Angel started to have seizures later on that night. We rushed him to an emergency room and a CT scan discovered that Angel had a large tumor growing in the back of his brain. Our world felt like it was ending, we were scared, and we desperately feared for our son’s dear life.
Angel was immediately transferred by ambulance to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, only one of a few places in the country that could properly care for our son. By the time we were admitted the tumor was causing increased pressure to his brain. This caused Angel to continuously vomit, barely speak, unable to move and started to lose his vision. Angel’s neurosurgeon Dr. Ruth Bristol was the one to diagnose our son with Stage 4 Medulloblastoma. She let us know that he had to immediately have surgery for 2 shunts, to relieve the pressure on his brain before any permanent damage was done. We spent 14 days in the Pediatric Intense Care Unit and Angel’s final surgery lasted over 7 hours to remove his brain tumor.
We prayed so much during that time, and had started to meet so many new people that cared for our son as much as we did. After the surgery Angel could barely move or talk, which is common with posterior fossa syndrome. When we left the hospital at the end of May, Angel was in a wheelchair and his Dad had to lift him into our car to take him home. Every day I watch my son defy the odds against him. He went to physical, speech, and occupational therapy; exceeded every goal they set for him in the span of 4 months. Since then Angel has went on to complete Proton Radiation Therapy as Scottsdale Mayo Clinic under Dr. Sameer Keole for about 8 weeks. He now walks, talks, and went from writing with his left hand to right hand. Angel is even going to school when he feels up to it. Angel just wanted to share his story to never give up, and he wants to give back for every child that may be going through the same circumstance that Angel has been through.
PLEASE SUPPORT SSBTR to help Angel and the far too many like him!
“One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money; we also feel we need to work.”
— Peter Drucker
After surgery or biopsy, all patients received radiotherapy & chemotherapy with the chemotherapeutic agent temozolomide; then received temozolomide again and 2/3 of them (466) were additionally treated with TTF. The study lasted 24 months, but there was an interim analysis for the outcome of mortality after 18 months. Due to positive results in this analysis, participants in the control group were then free to switch to the TTF study arm.
Research is currently pursuing several highly promising approaches in the fight against cancers that give rise to metastases in the brain. A high-level international symposium is currently taking place to discuss new approaches to prevention and treatment. "Our aim must be to prevent brain metastasis from occurring in the first place,". However, new forms of treatment are now also available for patients who already have secondary tumors in the brain.
A team of Turkish researchers developed a nano-technological drug delivery system that can overcome the natural defense mechanism that prevents drugs from reaching the tumor in brain cancer patients, without harming any healthy tissues, unlike the chemotherapy method that is generally used in treatment of the disease.
It can be hard for surgeons to tell the difference between glioblastomas and brain tissue. A new drug is helping by turning the tumor bright pink.
Glioblastomas attract "turncoats." These are macrophages, a type of immune cell, which promote tumor progression and mask tumors from the immune system's scrutiny. To better understand the cells that brain tumors recruit, scientists led by Dolores Hambardzumyan, Ph.D., developed advanced imaging techniques to visualize macrophages found in the brain tumors of living mice.
Data reinforce the safety profile of GammaTile Therapy, a surgically targeted radiation therapy (STaRT) that is designed to delay tumor regrowth for patients with recurrent intracranial neoplasms (brain tumors).
