The St. Baldrick’s Foundation has announced its 2022 grant recipients, and Bon Secours St. Francis Cancer Center is the only South Carolina health organization to make the list.
Bon Secours was awarded $50,000, which will be used to fund a full-time clinical research nurse coordinator who is devoted to patients in its Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Care program. The staff member will help ensure every patient is screened for research trials, which are often their best hope for a cure.
“Approximately 80 percent of the more than 90,000 AYAs diagnosed annually in the U.S. are seen and/or cared for in community settings. As a community cancer center, Bon Secours St. Francis is truly grateful for St. Baldrick’s support as we strive to provide access and enrollment to potentially life-saving clinical trials right here in the Upstate. By keeping these expanded care options closer to home, we avoid uprooting patients and their families during an already disruptive time in their lives,” said Dr. Hal Crosswell, director of the AYA program at Bon Secours.
The St. Baldrick's Foundation is the nation’s largest charitable funder of childhood cancer research grants. This year, it awarded more than $1.2 million in infrastructure grants to 27 different organizations across the country, allowing them to expand patient access to pediatric cancer clinical trials and to accelerate scientific discoveries to conquer kids’ cancer.
Made possible by St. Baldrick’s volunteers and donors who contribute generously, these grants are critical to ensuring that more kids are treated on clinical trials – often a child’s last chance for a cure.
Clinical trials are the last stage of research which lead to new approved drugs and/or therapies that improve the quality of life for patients and survivors, as well as the long-term survival of children with cancer. The Foundation’s infrastructure grants support programs and the personnel necessary to open and coordinate clinical trials and provide survivorship care.
“Research is hope and the dedication and generosity of the St. Baldrick’s community equips researchers to save children’s lives,” said Kathleen Ruddy, St. Baldrick’s CEO. “Countless children are alive today because of volunteers, donors and researchers. Together, they make more childhood cancer survivors.”
This series of grants brings the total of research funded by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to more than $324 million and 1,701 grants since 2005. The next round of grants will be announced in the spring of 2023. For more information about St. Baldrick’s Foundation grants or ways to get involved, please visit stbaldricks.org.