Press Release – IRVINE, CA (April 2, 2019) – For the third year, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) is proud to support pediatric cancer survivors with its Survivor’s Scholarship program.
In 2017, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation and its Board of Directors approved and launched the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation Survivor’s Scholarship with the intention to support the educational pursuits of cancer survivors attending vocational school, university, or college.
To date, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation has awarded 38 scholarships totaling $55,000 for pediatric cancer survivors. Since its launch, the submission of applications has grown exponentially each year. PCRF received 13 applications in 2017 and 38 applications in 2018. This year, PCRF received a record number of 100 submissions.
Through these scholarships, PCRF provides a tangible means of supporting quality of life for childhood cancer survivors in hopes to actively contribute to the long-term care of cancer survivors. This will help give them tools to succeed in their community and adult lives. And ultimately, improving quality of life and raising employment statistics for this population.
It has been estimated that by age 45, 95.5% of childhood cancer survivors will be diagnosed with at least one serious chronic health condition, and 80% will face a life-threatening health condition. The treatments that saved their life later puts them at risk for greatly diminished quality of life. Further, childhood cancer survivors are more than four times more likely to have difficulty finding employment as compared to healthy people.
PCRF’s primary goal is to relieve the financial strain for cancer survivors who want to attend college, while concurrently giving them the opportunity to pursue higher education and improve their skills in our ever-evolving job market.
“The scholarship program is a fulfillment of the promise that PCRF makes for a quality of life. These young people face such challenges and to be medically stable enough for college is only half the victory. They appreciate the vote of confidence that a scholarship sends to them that there is life after cancer and there is hope. That is what PCRF is all about – hope,” commented PCRF Philanthropy Manager, Christine Farwell.
Help us Make an Impact
The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation anticipates the scholarship program continually growing in future years. Feedback from the first class of applicants is that there are not enough survivor scholarships to go around and they are difficult to get. The Survivor’s Scholarship is solely made possible by designated gifts from PCRF donors and the foundation is currently seeking funders to support this important initiative.
For more information about the PCRF Survivors Scholarship or to make a contribution to support the scholarship program, please contact (949) 859-6312 or admin@pcrf-kids.org.
