Group Raises Funds for Childhood Brain Tumors
BU students urge American Express cardholders to vote to give their charity $1.5 million
As a freshman, Eugene Mann answered a job ad for Web design help from a nonprofit group fighting childhood brain tumors. It wasn’t long before the group’s cause became Mann’s.
The ad was from the PLGA Foundation, which supports research into better treatments and a cure for pediatric low grade astrocytomas (PLGAs), the most common form of childhood brain tumors.
“I started helping with just a blog,” says Mann (SMG’09). “Then I actually starting researching what PLGAs were and became passionate about the cause.”
The Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States estimates that there are more than 20,000 children with PLGAs today and that 1,000 children will be diagnosed with some type of astrocytoma brain tumor every year.
Mann helped establish a BU chapter of the PLGA Foundation, called FightJPA, which launched in 2006. The name refers to juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, a specific type of childhood brain tumor. The BU community has donated more than $35,000 to the group through events on campus, such as a 5K run and a casino night.
Now, Mann wants to help bring more money to the PLGA Foundation. The organization is one of 25 charities participating in a contest sponsored by American Express, in which cardmembers vote for the recipients of $2.5 million in donations.
American Express launched the Members Project, which sought ideas for projects that can make a difference in five areas: arts and culture, community development, education, environment and wildlife, and health. American Express will provide $2.5 million in funding to carry out the five winning projects, based on the final round of voting. The first-place project will receive $1.5 million, but all of the five finalist projects will get a donation of at least $100,000.
More than 1,200 entries were submitted, and the top 25, including the PLGA Foundation’s Project Brain Child, were announced on September 9. Project Brain Child aims to develop a worldwide children’s genomic brain tumor registry. Little is known about the genetic composition of childhood brain tumors, so targeted drug therapies are not possible, according to the project. The registry would enable researchers to match different genetic markers with the most effective drugs available and to create new drugs as well.
Mann is encouraging American Express cardholders to vote for Project Brain Child by clicking here. He hopes nonmembers will also urge cardholders to vote.
The contest ends September 29, and the winning projects will be announced on October 14.
Amy Laskowski can be reached at amlaskow@bu.edu.
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