A pediatric bone marrow transplant unit at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia is one step closer thanks to the Press On Fund’s $250,000 donation New Year’s Eve.
The donation was the third installment of a four-year $1 million pledge to Augusta University and the children’s hospital, according to a news release from the Press On Fund.
The $250,000 grant comes at the “perfect” time because of the Augusta University’s recent hiring of Dr. Amir R. Mian, professor and chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology in the department of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, the release said.
Mian will establish and direct the pediatric bone marrow and stem cell transplant program at the Georgia Cancer Center and the children’s hospital, according to a June 16, 2021 news release from Augusta University.
The first half of Press On Fund’s pledge, which was distributed in 2019 and 2020, went toward the Pediatric Immunotherapy Program at Augusta University and the children’s hospital.
The program is led by Dr. Theodore Johnson and Dr. David Mun, pediatric oncologists at Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Cancer Center. It’s designed specifically as a “destination” program to “provide highly specialized experimental immunotherapy treatments for children with cancer from around the country who may not have other options for continued therapy,” the news release said.
Organization’s officials plan to present the final installment in December 2022.
Press On Fund is a field of interest fund held by the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area.
Its co-founders are Turner and Tara Simkins whose 19-year-old son Brennan was diagnosed with leukemia the day before his seventh birthday in 2009.
Over the course of two years following his diagnosis, he underwent four bone marrow transplants and experimental protocols. Each bone marrow transplant brought hope that was soon dashed as he relapsed, according to an article published May 8, 2021 in The Augusta Press.
The final bone marrow transplant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. worked. Brennan Simkins has been in remission since.
Tara Simkins said only four percent of cancer research dollars go toward pediatric cancers.
“I wanted to use my voice to raise money,” she said in the article.
To learn more about the Press On Fund, visit pressonfund.org.
