The mission of The National Children's Cancer Society is to improve the quality of life for children with cancer and their families worldwide.
We serve as a financial, emotional, educational and medical resource for those in need at every stage of their illness and recovery. In the United States, we ease the financial burdens that accompany major illness; give crucial support and comfort; and address the challenges of survivorship. Abroad, we provide lifesaving pharmaceutical drugs, medical supplies and equipment to facilities that treat children with cancer.
In 1987, a relatively new and expensive procedure known as bone marrow transplantation (BMT) was gaining prominent recognition as a viable treatment for cancer. Despite this recognition, most insurance companies considered BMTs experimental and would not pay for them.
This experimental treatment represented the last hope for the survival of patients who did not respond to traditional chemotherapy. Unless a patient's family was able to pay for this costly experimental treatment, these children were sent home to die.
It is for this reason the N.C.C.S. was founded - to ensure that every child with cancer is given a chance at survival.
Bone marrow transplants are now routinely performed and covered by insurance, allowing the organization to expand its services to provide additional support. The N.C.C.S. helped push this risky procedure from infancy stage to a widely acceptable form of treatment.
Since its inception, the N.C.C.S. has provided more than $49 million in program distributions to assist the families of more than 26,000 children, and supplemental assistance through educational programs and materials to thousands more. The N.C.C.S. now works with more than 200 hospitals and pediatric oncology units throughout the United States.
This nonprofit, 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization has quickly risen to become one of the largest financial aid organizations for children with cancer in the United States. |
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