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Causes: Cancer, Health, Pediatrics
Mission: The mission of The Purple Society is to change the prognosis of pediatric cancers; while connecting families of childhood cancer patients worldwide with resources, hope, and inspiration. Our work has been at the heart of transforming the lives of families fighting childhood cancer. With your support we can continue our groundbreaking work to try and help even more children and their families. The support, tools, and research we provide to the childhood cancer community are crucial in our continuing efforts to beat childhood cancer. The Purple Society’s support of basic and clinical research within the established infrastructure will expedite the discovery of new agents to treat incurable pediatric cancers. Childhood cancers are rare diseases affecting 1 in 10,000 children under age 16. At the beginning of the 20th century, all childhood cancers were incurable; by the end of the 20th century, we made much progress in childhood survival rates. While increasing survival rates in childhood cancer is one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, there remain childhood cancers where there has been little or no progress, and in the others the anticipated 100% survival is proving elusive. Remarkably, childhood cancer remains the most common lethal disease of American children over the age one. Historically clinical trials have been the cornerstone of success in conquering pediatric cancers, often outpacing basic research. Today, molecular and cellular biology present a continuous stream of discoveries revealing differences between cancer cells and healthy cells and offering an infinite number of potential targets for new treatments. At the moment, we are in the early stages of developing targeted treatments, and so far there are only a few notable successes among many attempts. Meanwhile, designing and carrying out clinical trials is becoming increasingly costly and impossibly complicated. To move forward, we need both models to predict which new treatments to test in humans and new ways to carry out trials for small subsets of children with uncommon diseases. The Purple Society proposes to participate in the conquest of childhood cancer by supporting collaborative research to identify appropriate targets, discover ways to hit these targets, and carry out clinical trials using the infrastructure of the national cooperative group.
Results: Every day, countless families, scientists, caregivers, donors and volunteers contribute time, energy and passion to our mission to add hope and support for those children battling childhood cancers. We have achieved remarkable progress in our work to provide resources for the childhood cancer community, but the lives of children with cancer are still being cut short. We urgently need the public’s continued support. We will not rest until we find a cure. It’s easy to take action through this website. In just a few minutes, you can refer a child, family, or friend, you can volunteer at a Purple Event, make an online donation, become a Purple Partner, find a Childhood Cancer Clinical Trial, or advocate for public policy changes benefiting those with childhood cancer. We’re proud to have our website be ranked as one of the best non-profits websites in America by the International Academy of the Visual Arts and to have been voted The Most influential Non-Profit In Arizona by Arizona Foothills magazine. You can be a part of our Purple world by following us on Twitter, view the latest videos on our YouTube and Vimeo channels, and join the conversation on our Facebook and Instagram pages. We look forward to working with you. Remember, One Person CAN Make A Difference!
Direct beneficiaries per year: Over 1000 families fight childhood cancer!
Geographic areas served: The mission of The Purple Society is to change the prognosis of pediatric cancers; while connecting families of childhood cancer patients worldwide with resources, hope, and inspiration. Our work has been at the heart of transforming the lives of families fighting childhood cancer. With your support we can continue our groundbreaking work to try and help even more children and their families. The support, tools, and research we provide to the childhood cancer community are crucial in our continuing efforts to beat childhood cancer. The Purple Society’s support of basic and clinical research within the established infrastructure will expedite the discovery of new agents to treat incurable pediatric cancers.
Programs: Our funded programs are: Werpurple.org – The premiere online network for all things dealing with childhood cancer. There is no other online childhood cancer network that makes it easier to get valuable support. All of our tools are 100% free! No application process, no red tape, and no speaking to call centers. This includes research with a real person along with online tools to get quick accurate information on cancer types, treatment options, chemotherapy regimens, clinical trials, and valuable opinions from top oncologists. The network also provides tools to share your journey with friends and family. Providing educational information to millions of families all over the world. Trials.pub – A privately hosted worldwide clinical trials map focused solely on childhood cancer. Our map ties directly into the data coming from the trial file itself. So when the file is updated, our system is automatically current. Delivering the most up to date clinical trial information available anywhere in the world. We have a team of interactive developers always working in the system to make it easier and better for families to get valuable clinical trial information for their child…free of charge. It’s so effective that even the hospitals are using it! Nitalia’s Blankets – Delivering thousands of Purple Packages to children’s hospitals across the country. We make, collect, buy, pack and ship blankets, hats, socks, and scarves for children facing cancer. Over the last 3 years, (every Christmas and Spring season) we have delivered thousands and thousands of Nitalia’s Blankets to children. Nitalia started this when she was a patient at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The Purple Apartments – Families are stronger when they are together, which helps in the healing process. By staying at a Purple Apartment at the Ronald McDonald House, parents also can better communicate with their child’s medical team and keep up with complicated treatment plans when needed. They can also focus on the health of their child, rather than grocery shopping, cleaning or cooking meals. The Purple Apartments are the largest most lavishly appointed long term stay options for families in the United States. Purple Goodies – Working with our Purple Partners, we collect, sort, bag, and deliver food to families on the oncology floor at hospitals around the country. Also on a weekly basis we fill the refrigerators and freezers at The Ronald McDonald Houses and Ryan House. Purple Premieres – Purple Carpet Event for children and their families that are fighting cancer. Together with our Purple Partners, we create this award show style event to give the families a night to forget the anguish of the journey they are on. The child in treatment receives a swag bag filled with incredible things to take back to the hospital with them as well as professional family photos and memories to last a lifetime. Aside from our staple programs, we help families with their financial burdens by issuing grants to help with Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy, donating food gift cards, helping with daily living expenses, helping with travel expenses, and providing medical equipment when necessary. A portion of the funds that are raised from major donations and third-party fundraising go towards expenses and overhead for our interactive network. The Purple Society has NO paid employees. These are just some of the support systems we have in place for the families. Our goals are to work toward a future where cancer is a thing of the past. Together we can make that a reality.