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Driving Discovery.
Delivering Change.

What can we accomplish in 10 years? A lot!

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From the Desk of Dana Nichols

CKc is marking a major milestone—10 years of funding groundbreaking pediatric cancer research. A decade ago, we awarded our first grant, driven by the belief that every child deserves better treatment options. Today, we celebrate $4.5 million invested in the fight against childhood cancer.

We reflect on what these investments have achieved by speaking with grant recipients about the impact of CKc funding on their research, their patients, and the future of pediatric cancer care.

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What we found is that research is the key to discovering safer, more effective treatments that give children a chance at longer, healthier lives. Our funding is critical for doctors developing innovative treatments, who often face barriers to launching clinical trials. CKc funding provides researchers the time and resources needed to advance their work.

Researchers like Dr. Ted Johnson at the Georgia Cancer Center and Augusta University who received CKc’s first-ever grant in 2015. His Phase I study on indoximod for children with progressive brain tumors has since led to two clinical trials across five sites and an expanded compassionate-use protocol, providing access to patients who wouldn’t otherwise qualify. Thanks to CKc’s seed funding, more than 300 treatment options for children with brain tumors have emerged—an impact that continues today.

Do you want to know what a treatment option can actually mean to these kids and their families? I’ll let Dr. Johnson tell you: “…we have found that a number of the children receiving this treatment are demonstrating quality of life improvements, such as returning to school, taking long-delayed vacation trips, engaging in activities they cherish such as hiking and rock climbing, moving into a dormitory at college, attending sporting events, and others. For these children, immunotherapy has made a major impact on their lives.”

A decade, $4.5 million, and countless lives touched—this is the power of investing in pediatric cancer research. And we’re just getting started driving discoveries and delivering change.

Gratefully,

Dana Nichols
Executive Director
Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation

Driving Discovery in pediatric cancer research

CKc’s Impact to Date*

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*As of March 2025

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Delivering change for kids fighting cancer

Chloe Bella’s journey is one of trauma, resilience, and hope. When she was diagnosed with JMML, a rare leukemia, her family faced the brutal reality of a pediatric cancer fight. Fortunately, Dr. Elliot Stieglitz, a leading JMML researcher, advised her treatment from University of California, San Francisco, allowing her to remain with her family in Florida—and today, she is in remission.

Dr. Stieglitz’s groundbreaking JMML research, funded by CKc, is developing targeted treatments with fewer side effects for this rare cancer. His first-of-its-kind trial is giving children with JMML better options and families renewed hope.

Thanks to an initial grant from CKc, Dr. Stieglitz was able to conduct critical early research, proving the viability of his clinical trial. That work led to a $4 million NIH grant, which will fully fund his JMML-focused research. Without CKc’s investment, this breakthrough wouldn’t have been possible.

 
 
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Our Mission

is to fund innovative, accessible research for children fighting cancer to provide better treatments and quality of life, and to educate for change.

Our Vision

is to create cures for all childhood cancers.

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What does survivorship look like?

Doctors appointments, digestive issues, hearing aids, survivorship guilt, the fear of future infertility, and a constant anxiety that a secondary cancer diagnosis is lurking around the corner. Childhood cancer survivors like Cannon are warriors that inspire us all. But they should not have to deal with these side effects. They shouldn’t have to hold these monikers to signify the traumatic life they’ve led.

They deserve to not only survive, but to thrive.

Out of Cannon’s fight, Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation was founded, with the mission to fund innovative, accessible research for children fighting cancer to provide better treatments and quality of life, and educate for change. For children diagnosed with cancer, clinical research trials represent a chance. A chance at a cure and a chance to not just survive cancer, but to have thriving futures free from side effects and secondary illnesses brought on by harsh, adult treatments. What once began as a family’s desperate fight to save their child’s life, has grown into a thriving foundation investing in pediatric cancer research.

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Insights from Matt Kopkin

As an organization, we are always searching for ways to increase the impact of your investments. By looking beyond what is currently available in the research landscape, and focusing on removing the barriers challenging research advancement, we drive donor gifts directly to where they are needed most.

Early investment for young physician-scientists not only accelerates scientific discovery but also strengthens the overall infrastructure of pediatric oncology research, ultimately improving outcomes for children diagnosed with cancer.

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Our goal with Young Investigator (YI) Grants is that by the end of their grant period (typically three years), they will be working toward opening their own clinical trial and can apply to CKc again for a Clinical Trial (CT) Grant. 43% of YI grant recipients who have completed their grants have applied for and received a CT grant like Dr. Cassie Kline (shown in photo on left) who received a YI grant back in 2017 and in 2018 received a CT grant. When Dr. Kline first received funding, she was an adjunct professor and now is an assistant professor and the Director of Neuro-Oncology Clinical Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) who has led multiple clinical trials.

Investing in infrastructure provides much needed support to efforts that develop partnerships and collaboration directly leading to more access for patients. Take the case of the Pediatric Neuro Oncology Consortium (PNOC) led by Dr. Sabine Mueller (shown in photo on left). PNOC develops and runs clinical trials for brain tumors. CKc awarded Dr. Mueller and PNOC funding in 2019 that allowed them, for the first time, to open their trials at sites across Europe and Australia. Since receiving funding from CKc, PNOC has conducted three trials using these expanded sites with many more in various stages of development.

Another important area of research is in understanding who is and isn’t getting into clinical trials. CKc-funded researcher, Dr. Lena Winestone (shown in photo on right) studied the social determinants of health for high-risk neuroblastoma patients. This research was included as part of a Children’s Oncology Group (COG) trial to understand the difficulties for families looking to enroll in a trial. This research has provided significant data to researchers to develop trials in a way to address these issues and Dr. Winestone has more data collection efforts underway with another COG study and is pursuing other collaborations to continue this work.

Your investment in CKc fosters collaboration that will build toward a future where anyone seeking options can find one that meets their needs, whether that means access to a trial or a new treatment for a previously incurable cancer.

Gratefully,

Matt Kopkin
Grants Administrator
Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation

The Next Ten Years

The future of pediatric cancer treatment depends on bold investment in research today. Developing new therapies is a lengthy and complex process, often taking more than a decade from initial discovery to clinical application. Yet, for children battling cancer, time is a luxury they don’t have. That’s why CKc is committed to accelerating progress by funding innovative research that leads to real change.

Unlike government funding, which can be limited and slow-moving, CKc provides flexible, timely grants that allow researchers to explore new treatment options, improve early detection, and enhance patient care. Pediatric cancer research remains disproportionately underfunded compared to adult cancers, making these investments even more critical. Every grant we provide fuels scientific breakthroughs that not only improve survival rates but also enhance the quality of life for children facing cancer.

By investing in research that prioritizes both health span and life span, we’re ensuring that children not only survive cancer but live longer, healthier lives.

With every grant, every discovery, and every life saved, we’re driving the future of pediatric cancer treatment—because better outcomes aren’t just possible, they’re within reach.

You can drive discovery for the next ten years with a monthly gift of just $10.