Health partnership in state brings money to childhood cancer research

Seven-year-old Brock Hart stood behind a podium Friday and told a room full of adults what it meant to be cancer free. “These doctors helped me, and I like fishing,” he said.

Brock earned his spot at that podium 100 times over. When he was only 11 months old, he was diagnosed with leukemia and later a serious infection that almost took his life. He and his mother, Vanessa Hart, shared their story at The Children’s Hospital to help highlight the importance of pediatric cancer research.

“Research played a direct role in saving Brock’s life in 2009 when he needed an experimental drug to save his kidneys from the harmful effects of (chemotherapy),” his mother said.

Leaders from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, the Stephenson Cancer Center, the Children’s Hospital Foundation and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centers announced Friday a partnership to bolster childhood cancer research. With a combined $2.2 million, the research partnership will help bring three pediatric cancer researchers to Oklahoma, expand access to pediatric clinical trials statewide and establish money for continued pediatric cancer research.

Up to $1 million in TSET money will be used each year for seed grants for emerging research. This money comes from an existing research grant that Stephenson Cancer Center was receiving. The partnership is part of a larger effort to acquire National Cancer Institute designation for Stephenson Cancer Center, which no Oklahoma health institution currently has.

Dr. William Meyer, director of the Jimmy Everest Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, said at Friday’s news conference that the term “childhood cancer” refers to a range of different types of cancers that affect children, each of which are distinct cancers with distinct treatment needs.

Meyer said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved nine new agents to combat adult cancer in 2014; 20 in 2015; and 14 already in 2016 — but only three new drugs have been specifically approved for childhood cancer in the past 20 years.

Although 84 percent of childhood cancers are cured, often times, children are left with lifelong health issues as a side effect of their treatment, Meyer said. Brock’s cancer went into remission quickly, but shortly after, he developed a fungal infection that almost killed him.

His family came to the hospital to say goodbye. They cried. And then Brock lived through that night. And then the next night. And the next. Somehow, he survived, and 119 days later, he came home from the hospital for the first time since the day he was diagnosed with cancer.

His survival came at a cost, his mother said. Brock has had 13 surgeries, the fungal infection left him blind in one eye, and chemo required to treat his cancer left him sick at an important developmental age. He spent years in therapy and now is a healthy 7-year-old kid.