Did you know that 1 in 5 children will die from their cancer? Also, did you know that 4% of the NIH budget and close to ZERO funds from pharma are invested in new drugs for pediatric cancer? Did you know that some of the pediatric tumors also affect dogs?
These include:
🐾 Lymphoma
🐾 Leukemia
Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs over the age of 10. Not only dogs share the same environment with their owners, but they are also close to humans genetically. Their genome is 84% similar to that of people! Therefore, it is not surprising that dogs develop similar diseases as humans including cancer.
Some of the cancers that affect children are rare cancers. The rarity of these cancers makes it difficult for scientists and doctors to study these tumors on people. As a consequence, it is harder to find a cure for these specific rare cancers. On the other hand, dogs have a higher incidence of cancers when compared to humans. An example of a rare cancer in people is osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer in dogs. This type of bone cancer also affects children. While bone cancer is rare in humans, it’s incidence in dogs is ten times the incidence in people. Therefore, by treating dogs with these cancers not only we can provide the opportunity for our canine friends to receive treatments that can help them, but also these treatments can inform doctors which treatments can also help children with the same type of cancers.
Earlier this year, I was invited to be part of The Canines-N-Kids Medical & Scientific Advisory Group. The Canines-N-Kids Foundation is an amazing group committed to putting an end to the cancers that affect children and our canine friends. To reach this goal, Canines-N-Kids, have created a platform for veterinarian oncologists, pediatric oncologists, researchers and leading organizations such as Blue Buffalo Foundation, Lilly, V Foundation, and Petco Foundation to collaborate. This foundation is committed to funding research that can help identify new efficient treatments to cure cancers that affect kids and dogs.
Cancer is a complex disease. We need brilliant people from different backgrounds to collaborate and come up with innovative ways to end this awful illness. Canines-N-Kids Foundation’s mission is to help canines and kids with cancer.
Would you like to be part of this revolutionary movement and learn more about it? You can help us join the fight against cancers that affect children and dogs by sharing this information with all of your friends.
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