Swifty is working to give more families a chance to make the life-giving choice that Michael made with his “Master Plan.” After a child succumbs to brain cancer, donating tissue advances scientific research and can provide consolation for a family during their darkest hour. Today less than 5 percent of families are donating, but when surveyed, 90 percent of families who lost a child to cancer said they would have donated if asked.
Swifty wants to give all families the opportunity to make a life-giving choice during their time of tragedy should they desire. With your help we will continue to make this happen!
At the end of 2016, to overcome the many barriers to tissue donation, Swifty invested $300,000 to start the Post-Mortem Tissue Donation program at the Children’s Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium. The CBTTC is a collaborative of 15 children’s hospitals from around the world with a massive bio-database providing an essential tool for sharing tissue/data amongst pediatric cancer researchers.
Because of Swifty’s Post-Mortem Tissue program:
· It’s easier for families to donate. Families only need to give prior consent and make one phone call at the time of death to make the donation.
· It’s efficient for technicians. The necessary autopsy tech, pathologist and lab
tech are all on call and available to coordinate with funeral homes to collect and process donated tissue quickly.
· Results are multiplied. CBTTC shares tissue data openly with researchers
through its database.
The CBTTC program is now up and running! It has processed donations in four different states, representing seven different types of brain tumors. It is now time to scale it up. We will present the Post-Mortem Tissue Donation program at several conferences in 2018, including the International Symposium on Pediatric Neuro-oncology, the CBTTC Investigator’s meeting, and a gathering of oncology and palliative care providers to provide training on approaching families about donating.
With your help, we can do it again this year!
This year we are making another $300,000 investment … this time at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to develop a brand new Tissue Navigator [link to website page with info about this position] staff position to serve families of children diagnosed with cancer..
Together Toward Hope!
Patti Gustafson
P.S. If you make an online donation tomorrow, on Giving Tuesday, at 7 a.m. or shortly thereafter, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match your donation up to $1,000! The donation must be made on Swifty’s Facebook page [link]. The match is for a limited time only and will go quickly, which is why we’re asking you to please set your alarm clocks and donate at 7 a.m.! Thank you.
