After six years of intense advocacy with Department of Defense (DOD) Subcommittee members, Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research is excited to announce $56 million in new federal funding this year for cancers affecting children, adolescents and young adults (AYAs). The $56 million is being awarded from the DOD Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs’ (CDMRP) Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program directly to researchers, funding 44 projects. 

Rally Foundation’s Founder, Dean Crowe, who never stops looking for new funding, learned six years ago that the DOD has a $1.5 billion medical research program. At the time, about $300 million was allocated to cancers where the average age of diagnosis was 66 years old — even though almost 90% of active military personnel are 39 years old or younger with an average age of 25 years. In addition, Crowe found that 30% of them have children. 

Children and AYAs (those 15-39 years old) account for around 100,000 cancer diagnoses each year and get different cancers than older Americans, requiring different research and treatments. 

“Cancer is the #1 disease killer of this population, yet when it came to the war on cancer, the brave men and women defending our country were being left behind,” Crowe shared. “I realized that the DOD CDMRP was in the unique position to make a groundbreaking transformation in healthcare for our active military and their families and help fill a critical gap by investing in research for cancers that specifically affect this young demographic.”

The Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) in the DOD’s CDMRP exists to advance the mission readiness of U.S. military members affected by cancer — and that includes active service personnel, their spouses and children, as well as veterans and the public. 

In 2017, Rally Foundation successfully advocated for the inclusion of funding for cancers in children, adolescents and young adults resulting in $3.1 million paid directly to researchers. Since then, Crowe and her team retained report language and each year saw funding increase. 

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), who sits on the DOD Subcommittee, became a champion for this request in 2020. In 2021, in addition to cancers in children and AYAs, the committee added specific cancers by name that affect this younger population: sarcoma, germ cell cancers, thyroid cancer and lymphoma, which resulted in $39.2 million in new funding paid directly to researchers for these specific cancers. Crowe and her team also advocated for pediatric brain tumors, neuroblastoma and colorectal cancers to continue to be included in the PRCRP. These three cancers were awarded $16.7 million, bringing the total this year to $56 million for cancers that affect our active military and their families. 

The medical community shared its enthusiasm for this announcement of new specific funding for childhood and AYA cancer research: “We are grateful to Dean and the Rally Foundation for leading efforts to increase funding for research on cancers in children, adolescents and young adults and their related topic areas. The Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program under the Defense Health Agency funds cutting-edge research for these cancers that specifically affect our active military personnel and their families,” noted Dr. Donna Kimbark, Ph.D. Health Science program manager with the DOD.

“The DOD PRCRP is an excellent source of funding to support pediatric and AYA cancer research. On behalf of COG and the pediatric oncology community, I want to thank the Rally Foundation for its effective advocacy in including pediatric and AYA cancer topic areas in the PRCRP funding portfolio,” said Dr. Doug Hawkins, chair of the Children’s Oncology Group, a clinical trials group sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.