Purpose of Press On

The purpose of Press On is to provide desperately needed funding for basic, translational, and clinical research relating to pediatric cancers, specifically neuroblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Press On provides grants to scientists conducting research aimed at developing novel, targeted therapies for neuroblastoma and AML.  The often-quoted cure rate for pediatric cancer is skewed by tremendous success in treating Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, but the cure rates for Stage IV Neuroblastoma and AML are much lower. Our goal is to achieve a greater cure rate for these cruel diseases while also mitigating the potentially devastating side effects of current therapy, which can include secondary cancers, developmental delays, hearing loss, infertility, scoliosis, and others.  We have no choice.  Our sons’ lives depend on efforts like Press On.

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History of Press On



Press On was formed by Erin and Stephen Chance after their three year-old son, Patrick, was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma in June 2006. After realizing the dire need for funding for pediatric cancer research, the Chances began fundraising for the AFLAC Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Through golf and tennis tournaments and a cocktail party, they raised over $100,000 for neuroblastoma research in 2006. The Patrick R. Chance Fund for Neuroblastoma Research was formed in June of 2007 to combine the fundraising efforts of the Chances with the shared vision, experience, and success of CURE Childhood Cancer.

The Press On mission changed in an ironically positive direction in 2009 when Tara and Turner Simkins, dear friends of the Chances and early supporters of Press On, joined forces with the Chances as a result of their son Brennan’s diagnosis with AML on the eve of his seventh birthday.   Brennan received extraordinary care during his first three chemo cycles at the Medical College of Georgia’s Children’s Medical Center, after which time he received a  bone marrow transplant at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  It was during this time that Patrick’s neuroblastoma relapsed after being off therapy for three short months.  Three months after this difficult news, Brennan relapsed and is now fighting with Patrick to find a cure with far fewer and riskier options available for both of these amazing boys. 

The Chances and Simkins have shared a friendship for practically their entire lives.  The brutal irony of their sons' battles with these diseases underscores their firm belief that their on going experience “in the trenches” with these kids offers a providential opportunity to help raise money that can be targeted directly to therapies and trials that can make a difference now.  From this perspective, their lives will be always changed for the better, relying on the strength of true friendship and faith to Press On through any circumstances for a CURE.

Patrick endured his induction therapy under the care of Dr. Howard Katzenstein at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, including surgery, chemotherapy, autologous stem cell transplant, and radiation.  He then quickly presented to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York where he completed a two-year protocol of treatment with a monoclonal antibody called 3F8. Patrick is now being treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia under the guidance of Dr. John Maris.  He has received additional chemotherapy including a promising new agent that did not work for him, a craniotomy to remove a tumor from the outside of his brain, and an intravenous form of targeted radiation called MIBG, which is a radiolabeled iodine taken up by neuroblastoma cells. 

Brennan received his induction therapy under the care of Dr. Colleen McDonough at Children’s Medical Center at the Medical College of Georgia followed by an allogeneous transplant at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  Because of a rare and dangerous chromosomal abnormality (deletion of 7 q), Brennan is among the highest risk AML patients, and having relapsed less than six months since his first transplant has few options available to him and few institutions willing to or able to take on the risky alternatives that do exist.   He is is now being treated at St. Jude’s Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where a second transplant will be attempted by Dr. Wing Leung once their leukemia team, headed by Dr. Jeffery Rubinitz, is able get him into remission for a second time.   It is clear that chemotherapy will not cure Brennan, because of the vigilant nature of AML combined with his rare chromosomal status; therefore, the second transplant, while risky, is considered to offer a chance for cure.  He has also found, at St. Jude’s in Memphis, that there could be other options for trials and experimental treatments for cure beyond the second transplant.   

We know that beating neuroblastoma and AML requires national resources for expensive and risky trials that are challenging for many institutions to pursue.   More research is necessary; new platforms offering more accessible information to families in these circumstances to weigh their options are desperately needed; and new hopeful, confident physicians and researchers, who are willing to tackle these potentially catastrophic situations, require inspiration through real life success stories and investment.

Press On Has Directed Over $300,000 to Research

As a result of the generous support of family, friends, and people like you, Press On has been able to direct hundreds of thousands of dollars to promising research for neuroblastoma, specifically Dr. Donald Durden’s research of Pl-3 Kinase Inhibitor and Targeted Therapies for neuroblastoma conducted at Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  Click here to read a report from Dr. Durden outlining his progress.

Press On has also directed $20,000 to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) to support a team of dedicated neuroblastoma researchers who are investigating exciting treatment options that they believe could help save more children with neuroblastoma.  MSKCC is working on several pioneering treatments including a humanized version of the 3F8 antibody, a mouse-based 3F8 antibody that attaches to neuroblastoma cells and kills them. The antibody, developed by MSKCC's Dr. Cheung, also trains a child's immune system to attack and kill neuroblastoma. Since first used in 1987, 3F8 treatment has greatly improved survival without lasting side effects. The mouse-based antibody’s primary drawback is that it can be rejected by the child’s own immune system. MSKCC is researching chimeric and humanized versions of 3F8 to alleviate this issue and make it more effective for a greater number of patients.  MSKCC is also working on several other promising treatments for neuroblastoma, including different antibodies and a vaccine.

Press On is looking forward to continuing its funding of Neuroblastoma research and identifying pertinent AML research studies to direct funds toward in 2010 and beyond.

Neuroblastoma


Mainly affecting children, neuroblastoma is a cancer of the sympathetic nervous system, a nerve network that carries messages from the brain throughout the body. Researchers believe that neuroblastomas form when normal neuroblasts, the immature cells of the sympathetic nervous system, fail to mature into nerve cells and begin growing and dividing uncontrollably, leading to the growth of cancerous cells. Approximately six hundred children a year are diagnosed with neuroblastoma in the United States, the majority of which are under the age of five years. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor found in children and accounts for half of all malignant cancers found in infants. Neuroblastoma most commonly starts as a solid mass in one of the adrenal glands, which are located above the kidney, or in the nerve tissues in the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis.  In most cases, the tumor is not discovered before it has spread to other organs and the bone marrow.  The cure rate for Stage IV neuroblastoma is simply unacceptable. The cause of neuroblastoma is unknown.


Acute Myeloid Leukemia

While more prevalent in adults, acute myeloid leukemia (AML ) is diagnosed in about 20 percent of children with leukemia.  AML affects various white blood cells including granulocytes, monocytes, and platelets. Leukemic cells accumulate in the bone marrow, replace normal blood cells, and can spread to the liver, spleen, skin, or central nervous system.  Approximately 500 children are diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in the United States each year.  AML is the most common second malignancy (a different or second cancer found in a patient previously treated for cancer) in children treated for malignancies. About 60 percent of children with AML achieve long-term remissions with chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation. 

More About Patrick



Patrick is currently fighting relapsed neuroblastoma for which there is no known cure.  We desperately hope to find that cure or at least a way to manage his disease chronically. Patrick is living the mission of Press On. He is participating in clinical trials of new agents that will hopefully benefit him and other little boys to follow in Patrick’s footsteps.  When Patrick is not fighting cancer he is living life to the fullest.  He is doing very well in school and is enjoying the busy life of a six year-old. He has two sisters, Madison and Anna, dog named Banks and Bear, and a cat named Fiction. Patrick loves fishing, collecting, and science experiments.  To learn more about Patrick’s journey, please feel free to visit his website at www.carepages.com under the Carepage entitled “PatrickChance.”

More About Brennan

As one doctor recently told his parents, “Brennan’s early relapsed AML combined with the  7 q deletion chromosomal abnormality puts him at the bottom of the barrel,  but if he can survive a second transplant, we believe we can get him in a new barrel.”  To see this child, one is perplexed to understand that anything could possibly be wrong with him physically.  His abundant cheerfulness and radiant spirit affects everyone who is in touch with him, whether playing sports or games with his brothers, Nat (9) and Christopher (6), and friends, or struggling through a difficult day of hospitalization.   His physical disposition has allowed him to work through all of his prior treatments with a remarkable resiliency.  Treatments and the often grueling and unpleasant side-effects associated with them are tackled with a true super sense of getting through it so that he can be with his two brothers with whom he is best of friends.  Brennan calls his siblings his “Band of Brothers,” with whom he pursues all of his active hobbies (golf, hunting, fishing, and music) outside of the hospital, and with whom he works through his treatments with them at his side.  His brother Christopher has left first grade at St. Mary’s School in Augusta to be at Brennan's side as he seeks a second remission in hopeful preparation for a second transplant at St. Jude’s in Memphis.   Brother Nat will be with him soon and the Band of Brothers will Press On together.

Fundraising Events

Press On raises money through direct donations as well as other fundraisers, including a golf tournament held each fall at the Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, cocktail parties hosted by supporters of the mission to cure childhood cancer, and the specific opportunities discussed more fully below.

The 4th annual Play for Patrick Tennis Tournaments will be held on Friday, May 21 at Druid Hills Golf Club.  Anyone interested in sponsoring or playing in the event should contact Erin Chance at erinchance@comcast.net or 404-276-7405.   

Patrick's Paperwhites

Give a gift of fragrant, white, super easy care paperwhites and support childhood cancer research at the same time!  This beautifully potted and ready-to-sprout paperwhite gift has been created in Patrick's honor and will be available until the end of February. For each gift purchased, 15% of the price will be donated to fight neuroblastoma and AML.  We want to thank EasytoGrowBulbs.com for making this possible.



Just type PATRICK into the Discount Code/Special Offers field as you check out and 15% of your gift order value will be donated to Press On to CURE Childhood Cancer.

Click here to purchase Patrick's Paperwhites!

Press On Charm

Click here order the Press On charm in support of Press On to CURE Childhood Cancer.