STOP! Children's Cancer to Donate Over $1M to UF College of Medicine for Clinical Trials at the 15th Annual 'Holiday Traditions: A Musical Celebration'

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Dec. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- STOP! Children's Cancer, Inc. will donate more than $1 million to the University of Florida College of Medicine to establish the STOP! Children's Cancer Bonnie R. Freeman Clinical Trials Fund.

The $1.05 million gift will be presented Sunday, Dec. 11 to Dr. William B. Slayton, chief of the college's division of hematology-oncology in the department of pediatrics and Dr. Richard Bucciarelli, chair of the department of pediatrics at the 15th annual STOP! Children's Cancer "Holiday Traditions: A Musical Celebration" at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The donation will be used to support pediatric cancer patient clinical trials at the college that are currently under the supervision of Dr. Slayton.

"STOP! Children's Cancer's gift will fund a clinical trials coordinator, who will help UF open new trials and ensure the trials are being done in the safest and most effective way," Slayton said. "That means children will have more resources and options for cancer treatment at Shands Hospital at UF."

"Our goal is for every child at Shands to receive the best medicine that is known right now -- to help them survive whatever they are going through," said Howard Freeman, co-founder, STOP! Children's Cancer. "We will be part of national clinical trials."

"Clinical trials are the way we get cutting-edge research and its benefits to our patients," said Slayton, a pediatric oncologist and UF associate professor of pediatrics who specializes in treating and studying high-risk forms of leukemia.

STOP! Children's Cancer Inc., a local nonprofit organization committed to the prevention, control and cure of cancer in children, was founded by Bonnie Freeman and her father Howard Freeman in 1981. Bonnie died in 1983 at age 12 of leukemia, but her dream was to help other children with the disease.

Since its founding, STOP! Children's Cancer has contributed in excess of $3.7 million to fund pediatric cancer research at the UF College of Medicine. All research funding is specifically aimed at preventing, controlling and curing childhood cancer.

"All of the research funding we've provided in the past has been seed money for hard-core research, so this is the first time we are moving into translational research, where it's actually going to be applied to a child," said Laurel Freeman, Bonnie's mother. "Hopefully, there will be a lot of positive outcomes from this money we are donating. We're just really excited to see the shift happening."

"It will allow us to have more trials open here," said Slayton, a 1992 graduate of the UF College of Medicine who completed his pediatrics residency and clinical fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at UF. "Some of the trials are going to be for new drugs you can't get any other way but through a clinical trial."

Howard and Laurel Freeman think Bonnie would be pleased with the work her organization has done over the past 30 years. Diagnosed with leukemia when she was 10, Bonnie told her parents her goal was to fight childhood cancer, so other children wouldn't have to suffer.

"I visualize Bonnie smiling down on all of us and just cheering us on," Laurel Freeman said. "It's been just a true community effort."

Tickets to the 15th annual STOP! Children's Cancer "Holiday Traditions: A Musical Celebration" can be purchased online or from STOP! Children's Cancer Inc. 352-377-2622, the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts box office, 352-392-2787 or any Ticketmaster outlet.

STOP! CHILDREN'S CANCER, INC. is a local non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to the prevention, control and cure of cancer in children. Since its founding in 1981 by the Freeman family, it has been locally managed and dedicated to raising funds for basic research, research scholars, and research equipment for the Divisions of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

CONTACT:
Linda Michalisin or Ryan Frankel
Frankel Media Group for STOP! Children's Cancer, Inc.
+1-352-331-5558
http://www.frankelmedia.com 

SOURCE STOP! Children’s Cancer, Inc.