Caring Causes: CureFest

More than 16,000 children will be diagnosed with cancer each year; yet only 4% of federal cancer funding goes toward childhood cancer.

CureFest is a grassroots effort to unite childhood cancer organizations into one voice to help raise awareness and to convince regulators of the greater need for funding.  CureFest’s mission is to make childhood cancer research a national priority. One of the major sponsors of CureFest is Aflac, which is also sponsoring an event in partnership with Atlantic Media called Children and Cancer held the day after the  special CureFest interviews on September 14th. The event will be a forum in D.C. that includes speakers from the government, researchers and doctors, who will discuss the latest needs and initiatives involving childhood cancer.  Aflac is doing something about this through its $116 million commitment to fighting childhood cancer. 

Thanks to the dedication of doctors, brave patients and the work of organizations like theAflac Cancer and Blood Disorder Center the cure rate for childhood cancer is now almost 90 percent, up from only 20 percent.

In this interview you will hear an inspiring message from Caroline Belcher, a brave eight-year-old battling a brain tumor, her mom and a CureFest organizer Emily Belcher and Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Aflac, Catherine Blades. Dealing with childhood cancer is a grind and it is emotionally taxing. Caroline and Emily will be able to discuss the realities of dealing with a child who has cancer from both the child and the mother’s perspective.