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Fourth and Gold wins big for pediatric cancer researchPhotos Submitted
In a few short years, the Fourth and Gold Foundation has given more than $350,000 to support AML, brain tumor, neuroblastoma and ALL research. Erin, the pediatric oncology nurse who launched the foundation, is thrilled – and motivated – to raise even more. Read about the Fourth and Gold game plan scoring big against pediatric cancer.
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Dear pediatric cancer community,
Nurse Erin here – and I am honored to share why I believe the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) has the best game plan to beat childhood cancer.
Ask any pediatric oncology nurse about the hardest part of our job and they’ll tell you the same thing: losing a patient. Second is watching kids experience the most difficult side effects – nausea, fevers, hair loss, hearing loss and recovering from surgeries. We work really hard to make those side effects as bearable as possible.
In 2020, I was overwhelmed by the tragedy of losing two patients, both in their early teens. They inspired me to start Fourth and Gold – the foundation I launched with a mission to fund the most promising research based on the highest chances of saving lives.
Since 2021 we’ve raised more than $350,000. Each dollar increases my hope that by rallying our communities, COG scientists can create better treatments with less harmful side effects.
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How I became a loyal Children’s Oncology Group fan I've been a pediatric oncology nurse for seven years and it comes with the best and worst times. I spend some days comforting patients and their families during the most difficult moments of their life, but on other days it's not rare to find me kicking a ball down the hall with a kiddo or playing dress up and super-heroes to celebrate some really big milestones in their treatments. As an oncology nurse, I see the toxic effects of cancer treatments. One important part of my job is monitoring patients for immediate and long-term side effects – analyzing how their bodies are or aren’t responding to treatment. After realizing that children can run out of treatment options, I knew that investing more time and funding into research was going to be my number one priority – outside of the work I do in the hospital. |
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After my patients died, I found myself taking an even greater interest in the research. All the research studies I looked into had one unifier – the Children’s Oncology Group. The more I learned about COG, the more I wanted to learn about the different ways researchers all over the world were tackling cancer. COG’s defense is looking into the root cause of cancers and why treatments work for some kids, but not others. On the offensive side, COG is a champion for studying all cancers – even the most rare and difficult to treat – and tirelessly pursuing treatments with less harmful side effects.
Fourth and Gold celebrates wins for pediatric cancer research
If it's not obvious by now, I'm a huge sports fan and my love of sports has become a big part of my fundraising strategy.
Did I forget to mention what our fundraisers involve? Sports of course! The majority of the $350,000 we’ve raised has been from dodgeball, kickball and cornhole tournaments. Families, neighbors, coworkers from all over the greater Jacksonville, Florida region have come together to compete for cancer research.
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Matching up against AML
We spent two years fundraising before we were able to support a COG study. We celebrated in style by sending a $60,000 check to COG Foundation to support Benjamin Huang, MD’s acute myeloid leukemia (AML) research at UCSF in 2022. AML is a difficult cancer to treat. It happens when myeloid cells – cells that become white or red blood cells or platelets – don’t mature properly. |
Dr. Huang wants to pinpoint a protein that lives on AML cells, and can be used to bind a cancer-fighting immunotherapy treatment to. This is exciting for many reasons. Immunotherapy works by recruiting our immune cells to find and destroy cancer cells, and most patients experience fewer side effects.
After our initial grant, Dr. Huang’s team had identified several proteins unique to AML cells. But one in particular was the most common across thousands of tumors they analyzed. That inspired us to give him another $50,000 to study, and hopefully confirm, that an immunotherapy could effectively treat AML.
After our initial grant, Dr. Huang’s team had identified several proteins unique to AML cells. But one in particular was the most common across thousands of tumors they analyzed. That inspired us to give him another $50,000 to study, and hopefully confirm, that an immunotherapy could effectively treat AML.
Facing off with brain tumors
We built on our early momentum when we sent Hong Qin, MD, PhD and Rocio K. Rivera-Valentin, MD, PhD, at the Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville, $66,000 to support their immunotherapy aiming to treat Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) brain tumors.
DIPG tumors are devastating. They develop in the part of the brainstem that regulates our heart rate and breathing. Few patients live more than two years after their diagnosis. An immunotherapy breakthrough for these patients would be game-changing for this rare type of cancer, which makes up about 10% of all brain tumors.
We built on our early momentum when we sent Hong Qin, MD, PhD and Rocio K. Rivera-Valentin, MD, PhD, at the Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville, $66,000 to support their immunotherapy aiming to treat Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) brain tumors.
DIPG tumors are devastating. They develop in the part of the brainstem that regulates our heart rate and breathing. Few patients live more than two years after their diagnosis. An immunotherapy breakthrough for these patients would be game-changing for this rare type of cancer, which makes up about 10% of all brain tumors.
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Competing with neuroblastoma
In September 2023, which is also Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, neuroblastoma wreaked havoc on my heart again and took one of the most special little girls on this planet. I could hardly take the heartbreak and the pain of knowing this vibrant, full of life child was gone. I watched in awe as her family decided that cancer wasn't going to win. They spent all month hosting lemonade stands through their friends and family and raised an incredible $100,000 for Fourth and Gold. |
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What they didn’t know was that our Fourth and Gold team had already committed $100,000 to support Rochelle Bagatell, MD, with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and her research into neuroblastoma genetics. Dr. Bagatell and her team are focusing their research on the how and the why behind a neuroblastoma diagnosis, why relapses are occurring and if the treatment given to each child with neuroblastoma needs to be more genetically focused versus a standard of care.
Meet Fourth and Gold’s Research Champions RosterIn less than five years, the Fourth and Gold team has sponsored five major COG projects. With more than $350,000 raised, their gifts to the COG Foundation are supporting scientists making big plays against brain tumors, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, neuroblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia. Learn more about the research projects supported by Fourth and Gold. |
At the end of 2024, we made one more $75,000 gift and added a few more scientists to the Fourth and Gold research champions roster. Our latest gift supports pediatric oncologists, Rachel Rau, MD with Seattle Children’s and Sumit Gupta, MD, PhD with SickKids, who are studying blinatumomab – an immunotherapy that treats B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Building a long-term strategy to support COG I'm grateful to the community who has rallied around our team and in 2025, I believe there will be more touchdowns for childhood cancer research. |
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To continue our winning streak, we will be hosting another big series of events including: our 5th annual Kickin' Out Childhood Cancer Tournament, our 5th annual Tossin’ Out Cancer Cornhole Tournament, our 3rd annual Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, Defeat Childhood Cancer Dodgeball Tournament and our 2nd annual Golden Gala. As our momentum continues to build, I’m hopeful that we will take our game on the road and launch Fourth and Gold programs in any community that is interested in supporting pediatric cancer research. In the meantime, my motivation will continue to come from the patients I see in our clinic and the more than 10,000 COG members. My promise to them – and the entire childhood cancer community is this – our Fourth and Gold team is 100% committed to scoring big against cancer. |
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