About CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA

Who are we? We are one of the UK’s leading funders of research into childhood leukaemia. We’ve been working for over 20 years helping children affected by leukaemia. We fund research into causes and treatments, support families through welfare programmes and campaign on their behalf. What is leukaemia? Leukaemia is a cancer of the blood and is the most common childhood cancer. Children under the age of five are at greatest risk. The main treatment is chemotherapy. Some children will also require radiotherapy and/or a bone marrow transplant. Survival rates have improved dramatically with four out of five children now beating their disease. However, some children are still failed by all current treatments, and those that do survive face the possibility of serious and long-term side-effects. More about our medical research: In the last three years CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA has committed over £10 million into research into childhood leukaemia. We work to improve treatments and to try and understand the causes of leukaemia.

Researching treatments:

Fifty years ago a diagnosis of leukaemia was tantamount to a death sentence for a child: there were no effective treatments available. Survival rates have improved dramatically as a result of several decades of research investment but one in five children still die from their disease. And the children who do survive may be left with serious, long-lasting health and developmental problems as a result of the treatments that are used to save them. We are working hard to develop treatments which are not only more effective but which carry less risk of side-effects.

Researching the causes of leukaemia:

Despite a wealth of research, much uncertainty remains over the causes of childhood leukaemia. Many different factors have been linked with development of the disease, with varying degrees of certainty.

We are working hard to improve our understanding. Research projects currently being funded by CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA are looking at such things as exposure to electric and magnetic fields, exposure to potentially harmful chemicals and exposure to infectious diseases.

A number of different genetic mutations – changes to chromosomes - have been shown to be linked to the development of different forms of childhood leukaemia. Further research projects funded by CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA are using the latest technology to find out more about these mutations and the role they play in leukaemia development.

We hope that we will one day be able to take preventative action.

To learn more about our work, please click here (another window will open)