The 6th Run To Kick, the annual solidarity race run by KickCancer, the Belgian foundation for children with cancer, kicked off at 11:00 on Sunday in the Ossegem Park in Brussels, near the Atomium.
On Sunday morning, the counter already stood at €1,184,132, raised by at least 2,393 runners. The aim of this year's fundraiser is to fund new research for vital innovations for young cancer patients.
"When we talk about cancer, the term innovation is often mentioned in the same breath, and people automatically think that it also concerns children with cancer, but that’s not the case," says Delphine Heenen, founder of KickCancer. "In fact, since 2007, more than 150 drugs have been approved for adult cancer and only nine for paediatric cancers. This difference can also be seen in young patients’ access to innovative clinical trials. In the case of paediatric cancers, this access remains an exception."
"If a child has run out of therapeutic options, they only have a one in ten chance of being included in a clinical trial at an early stage,” continues Delphine Heenen.
"The logical consequence of this situation is that the average survival rate is stagnating. Since 2000, the survival rate has only increased by just under 4%. That’s why we’re using Run To Kick donations to stimulate researchers to find vital innovations for young cancer patients. This year, we have selected two research projects focusing on the GITC brain tumour." GITC is a highly aggressive malignant brain tumour located in part of the brain stem.
Run To Kick is linked to Fight Kids Cancer, a joint initiative launched by five organisations from Belgium (KickCancer), France (Imagine for Margo), Luxembourg (Fondatioun Kriibskrank Kanner), the Netherlands (KiKa) and Spain (Cris Cancer Foundation).
The partner organisations are aiming to raise at least €6.5 million this weekend in total, adding to the €1 million raised so far by the Belgian KickCancer Foundation.
