Tag Archive for: MIBG therapy in Charlotte

MIBG Construction Update #4, Levine Children’s Hospital

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MIBG Therapy Room, Patient/parent room dividing lead brick wall

Look at all the lead work that has been done since our site visit on the new ISF MIBG therapy suite at Levine Children’s Hospital…

  • Lead brick walls installed
  • Lead window frame and door frames installed
  • Lead ceiling installed
  • Reinstalling overhead utilities.

MIBG Therapy Program Lead, Dawn, shared with us that a Pediatric Grand Rounds (accredited healthcare eduction) is being held on MIBG therapy and immunotherapy tomorrow.  Many residents and other medical staff have been very inquisitive about the new room and therapy it will offer.  Dawn and Dr. Oesterheld are currently working on the formal education for residents and hospitalists that will take place in the coming months.

Signed MIBG lead brick

We are excited to learn that the lead brick that was signed at the the March 9th MIBG celebration will be placed in the wall in the coming weeks.  On this day we were joined on by our 3 Wish Circle Members and sponsors who helped us make this room a reality.  What was also special, doctors and nurses who treated Isabella during her time at Levine Children’s Hospital were  in attendance. Everyone in attendance signed a piece of Levine history as the lead brick will become part of the suite during construction.

Almost $14,000 has been raised by our ISF MIBG Ambassadors.  Want to be part of providing comfortable care for the kids/families that go through MIBG Treatment?  Our new MIBG Ambassador Program gives you the flexibility of raising $5,000 the way you want to raise it… 100% of funds raised through this program will be distributed very specifically through our LCH partnership with this very targeted MIBG purpose. {You do not have to be located in Charlotte to participate, contact Tia for details}

Learn more about MIBG Therapy and what’s coming to Levine Children’s Hospital.

 

MIBG Therapy Room, Patient Room Corridor Framing

 

MIBG Therapy Room, Patient Room Viewing Window

MIBG Construction Update #3, Levine Children’s Hospital

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Holy cow what a cool morning. Earlier today our team visited the ISF MIBG construction site at Levine Children’s. To set foot into the pediatric cancer therapy site that your dollars support is surreal!

In the pictures you will see a couple of things. The space on the right will be the patient room, the space on the left will be the parent/guardian room… in between you will notice a large steel door frame where the lead lined door will be placed. The huge structural steel beams have been set underneath the floors and on the ceiling… these are required to hold the weight of the lead bricks that are encompassing the room to protect and manage the MIBG Therapy safely for both patients, family and staff. Lead bricks have been installed partially on one wall. (Insider scoop: the construction team may or may not have broken two elevators getting them up to the 11th floor. That’s how heavy the lead bricks are.)

It was impressive to learn that the lead lined doors and windows will be thicker than any other MIBG Therapy room doors/windows in the country which will provide the best radiation protection during this cancer therapy. Looking forward to sharing these pictures.

The LCH team is getting ready prepping. Nurse Dawn, MIBG Therapy Program Director, has been super busy creating program materials, administering the core nursing education, and have learned from support staff such as radiation safety, child life specialists and bone marrow transplant coordinators. The MIBG nursing team has had a conference call with Nationwide Children’s Hospital where they were given the opportunity to ask experienced MIBG nurses what they have learned, what they would change, their fears, ect. That’s pretty cool.

We are looking for individuals who want to be part of providing comfortable care for the kids/families that go through MIBG Treatment. Our new MIBG Ambassador Program gives you the flexibility of raising $5,000 the way you want to raise it… 100% of funds raised through this program will be distributed very specifically through our LCH partnership with this very targeted MIBG purpose. {You do not have to be located in Charlotte to participate, contact Tia for details}

Learn more about MIBG Therapy and what’s coming to Levine Children’s Hospital.

 

 

 

 

 

MIBG Construction Update #2, Levine Children’s Hospital

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Our day is made when we receive MIBG treatment room construction updates from Nurse Dawn, Levine Children’s Hospital MIBG Therapy Program Director!  This is really happening… look at the ISF MIBG sign that labels the suite!  Steel beams will be going up next and the lead brick walls will be installed in about 4-6 weeks. The suite was designed with lead bricks, a radiation shielding element, and will include lead-lined floors, walls, and ceilings.  This will protect and manage the MIBG Therapy safely for both patients and staff.  Lead bricks are extremely heavy, we can’t wait to see photos/video of them lifting them up to the top floor of LCH! 

The ISF MIBG treatment suite enables parents to stay close to their child throughout the cancer treatment, and consists of a lead-lined patient room, an adjoining room with a lead-lined viewing window where family members can spend the night.

LCH Core Nursing Staff training is coming up on June 19th and 26th. Dawn will be sharing tons of information soon to help educate everyone on MIBG treatment, family education and even what to expect as a patient.  

We love that Dawn got her own personal hard hat to keep because she likes to check on construction progress often.  We couldn’t have asked for a better MIBG Therapy Program Director… and we look forward to sharing her story soon too!  It’s the Dawns’ of the world that are making these visions of better cancer care become a reality.

We are looking for individuals who want to be part of providing comfortable care for the kids/families that go through MIBG Treatment. Our new MIBG Ambassador Program gives you the flexibility of raising $5,000 the way you want to raise it… 100% of funds raised through this program will be distributed very specifically through our LCH partnership with this very targeted MIBG purpose. {You do not have to be located in Charlotte to participate, contact Tia for details}

Update #1: MIBG Treatment Room Construction Begins at Levine Children’s Hospital

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Levine Children’s Hospital: We’re Doing All We Can to End Childhood Cancer

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Content provided by Levine Children’s Hospital

Today, the 5-year survival rate for those with childhood cancers stands at more than 80 percent – up more than 20 points since the 1970s.

That’s encouraging news for families with children with cancer. But there’s still a long way to go, especially when funding for pediatric cancer remains low.

Here at Levine Children’s Hospital, we’re doing all we can to cure the incurable. We sat down with some of the cancer specialists at LCH to hear what excites them about cancer care here in the greater Charlotte area.

Personalized medicine. As part of the Beat Childhood Cancer initiative, LCH researchers are investigating tailored courses of chemotherapy based on a person’s individual genetic makeup. “We give you a personal answer, telling you what drugs may work for a specific tumor. For people who have gone through chemotherapy, that is a very unique thing,” says Javier Oesterheld, MD, medical director for pediatric hematology, oncology, and blood and marrow transplantation.

New technology for rare nerve cancer. LCH is building a dedicated lead-lined room to deliver a special kind of therapy called MIBG to treat neuroblastoma, a form of high-risk nerve cancer. We’ll be one of fewer than 20 centers in the United States to offer this type of therapy, says Dr. Oesterheld.

Dynamic approaches for blood and marrow transplantation. Replacing broken stem cells with healthy cells from a donor is one way to cure many types of cancer. We’re one of 12 institutions in the country studying a new technology that can help kids with cancer who have no other donors. “We have a number of kids who we’re helping save with this  technology, and we’re really privileged to be able to bring this top-level work here to Charlotte,” says Jeffrey Huo, MD, pediatric blood and marrow transplantation specialist.

Immunotherapies. Many new treatments for leukemia involve helping the body itself to fight off the cancerous cells. “We’re now able to trick the body’s own immune system into recognizing the leukemia cells as bad, so it can go and kill those cells,” says Joel Kaplan, MD, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist. “This type of research is one of the most cutting-edge things going on in the nation right now, and we’re contributing to those efforts here at LCH.”

Beyond new therapies, our doctors know that better treatment also includes providing the extra human touch – to be at our best when children are at their worst. “The science of cancer is always changing, which keeps us on our toes,” says Dr. Oesterheld. “But the idea of being able to get a child through probably the worst times of their lives – for us, that’s invaluable.”

Lake Norman Coffee for a Cure Brings in Over $35,000 for Pediatric Cancer Research

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2017 Lake Norman Coffee for a Cure. Photo courtesy of Localscroll.com

Our 2nd annual Coffee for a Cure hosted by our ISF Lake Norman chapter was a huge success.  Thank you to the 250 men and women who attended and the sponsors and local businesses who gave time and money to this event.  This event served as a call to action in the fight against pediatric cancer and to educate community members on the importance of bringing pediatric cancer treatments home to Charlotte.  We were able to raise $35,000 and donations have continued to come in.  These funds bring us one step closer to our 2017 $1,000,000 fundraising goal to fund the creation of a MIBG room at Levine Children’s Hospital.

Our Lake Norman chapter could not put on such a wonderful event if it wasn’t for the support of our community businesses who help us through their sponsorship. It is through their passion for charitable giving and making a local impact that we are able to continue Isabella’s fight. Thank you to the following businesses:

2017 Lake Norman Coffee for a Cure. Photos courtesy of Localscroll.com

During the event, we introduced our new major gift society, called The Three Wish Circle, with an annual gift of $5000 or more, donors can take their support of the ISF mission to the next level by funding more research for childhood cancer and help to bring innovative treatment options to our local community.  If you have questions or want to know more about how to take your support to the next level, contact our ISF Development Director, Tia Wackerhagen.

We cannot begin to put words to how grateful that we are for the impact you are helping us make, thank you for your support.. We are so proud of what we have accomplished together and it is because of YOU. We could not do this alone and could not continue our fight without your help. We humbly thank each of you and look forward to a world with no more cancer where we will beat cancer, grow hair and live the dreams of all children fighting the fight.

We appreciate Local Scroll Charlotte for capturing the event, view all photos of the 2017 Lake Norman Coffee for a Cure.