In 2005, Connor was a regular four-year old boy, living with parents Joy and Tait Cruse. Connor loved Super Heroes, Bob the Builder, riding his bike, and dueling with toy swords and light sabers. He living the life of any ordinary four-year boy until he got—what was thought to be—an ordinary tummy ache. Connor’s tummy ache turned out to be stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a particularly deadly form of cancer that strikes thousands of children each year. At present, Connor has undergone more than 12 rounds of chemo-threapy, two bone marrow transplants, 18 individual radiation treatments, one 13-hour surgery to attempt to remove the tumor, and he is still alive fighting the disease today! Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer found in infants, almost double that of leukemia, and the most common solid tumor cancer found in children, It is a very aggressive form of cancer and if not diagnosed early, there is a less than a 30% chance of survival. Most treatments are in the clinical stage and merely prolong the life of the child, not kill the disease. For every dollar received through federal grants and private donations for pediatric cancer research, less than 3¢ is allocated to funding for Neuroblastoma research. Below are some additional shocking statistics: - Cancer is the number one disease killing children. More kids die from cancer than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, asthma and AIDS combined. - There are 15 cases of pediatric cancer diagnosed for every single case of pediatric AIDS and yet the US spends more than $590,000 on research per pediatric AIDS victim, and only $20,000 per pediatric cancer victim. - There are 15 cases of pediatric cancer diagnosed for every single case of pediatric AIDS and yet the US continues to spend more than $590,000 on research per victim, and $20,000 per pediatric cancer victim. - The largest Children’s Oncology Group (COG) in North America, which supports the clinical and biological research at over 200 participating institutions and treats 90% of children with cancer, received less than half of its requested budget from the federal government this year. It is time to change this. That’s we created TEAMCONNOR! Children’s Medical Center is one of the largest members of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) and one of only 20 centers nationally approved by the COG to have access to Phase I experimental cancer drugs years before such treatments are widely accessible. Together we can help fund better treatment options for pediatric cancer, especially Neuroblastoma, and even find a cure. We hope you’ll join us in this fight....we need you on the team! Visit Team Connor by clicking here

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