Local Mother Pushing for More Funding for Childhood Cancer Research

Monday, 22 July 2019 at 14:02

A local mother has already received over 53,000 signatures on her petition to get more funding for childhood cancer research in Canada.

LONDON - A mother from London is looking to raise awareness about cancer funding in our Province.

Kim Vandershelde's daughter Lydia started chemotherapy when she was just 18 months old. Lydia was pumped full of medications that were not developed for children but for adults and she endured some terrible side effects. Today, 10 years later Lydia suffers from neurocognitive challenges, unrelenting pain, and nausea.

Vandershelde says she created the petition to create awareness about the funding model.

"It's purely awareness and trying to get childhood cancer research from the current 3.3% to a minimum of 10%. The Federal Government gives to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a certain amount of money for cancer research every year and presently it is 3.3% of the cancer research budget going to childhood cancer. The best it has ever been is 5%, which is why we use the hashtag worth more than 5."

The petition has already been signed by over 53,000 people and it has even drawn the attention of Prime Minister Trudeau. Vandershelde says she actually spoke with Trudeau when he was in London last month.

"I actually met him at a Pub, on a patio, I was told it would only be for a couple of minutes but he actually spent 10 minutes with me and my husband. A lot of the time he was telling me things, citing specifics to me, one of the things he said that actually brought tears to my eyes was when he said, you're right 5 percent is not enough and to hear him say that, basically admitting that there is a problem and now we have to work on it, to me, that was a huge step."

Vandershelde says the Prime Minister really seemed to understand her plight.

"One thing he said to me was that, giving children smaller doses of chemo therapy is not the answer and that is a big part of this, we are giving our children antiquated drugs that were developed 50 years ago for adults, not for children. Hundreds of drugs have been developed for adults but only 3 for children in the last 20 years."

She plans to bring the petition to Ottawa when she reaches 75,000 signatures.

You can read more about Vandershelde's story and sign the petition online here.