An overview of the charity

 We set up Christopher’s Smile in October 2008 having lost our son, Christopher in June the same year to an aggressive medulloblastoma brain tumour. Following a 21 month battle with the disease he passed away 9 days before his 6^th birthday. We wanted to find something positive in our tragedy and thought long and hard about the direction we should take. We feel strongly that the current cycle with childhood cancer needs to be broken.

 "Our vision is for every child diagnosed with childhood cancer to not
 only survive, but to reach adulthood enjoying a good quality of life."

The survival rates for many children have not improved in decades and often those who survive their disease are left with a legacy of side effects due to treatments. These side effects can include permanent organ damage, permanent sensory damage such as hearing loss, permanent and irreparable damage to the brain.

Christopher’s Smile
The charity funds the development of new targeted drugs to treat medulloblastoma and other childhood cancers without devastating side effects. We support UK research centres such as The Institute of Cancer Research. These drugs will provide an effective cure for all and save the lives of the 25% of children who currently do not survive their disease.

How Christopher’s Smile is helping children with cancer in the future.
We know firsthand the efficacy of current treatments and their associated side effects.
We want to see the introduction of new targeted drugs which are being developed to counteract the genetic abnormalities that drive childhood cancer but do not possess the dreadful side effects of current treatments.
The first examples of these new generation drugs are available and need extensive testing before they can be trialled in children.  By directly funding academic researchers, Christopher’s Smile will expedite the testing and development of these new drugs enabling children in the future to have access to more effective and safer treatments.

Key achievements since the charity was founded
We have funded a researcher for two years from January 2010 to carry out pre-clinical testing of novel agents. New candidate drugs are to enter clinical trials as a result of the testing. A second researcher took up her post in May 2011and this research work will be funded by us for 3 years. The strategic plan of the Institute of Cancer Research and its clinical partner, The Royal Marsden NHS Trust is that the new drugs will be the dawn of a new era in childhood cancer treatment.  We hold quarterly meetings with the Institute to review progress and to ensure the funding we have provided is being used efficiently.

Reasons to support Christopher’s Smile when already millions are spent on cancer
Thankfully children’s cancers are less common than cancer in adults.  In the UK there is no national charity to raise funds specifically for childhood cancer research.  Children’s cancers are biologically different to adult cancers and require specific research.  Although millions of pounds are spent in the UK each year on cancer research only a tiny percentage of this amount is spent on children’s cancers. 
All treatments in front-line use for childhood cancers were developed for adult cancers and the chemotherapy drugs used are not only nonspecific but the 10 most common drugs used to treat children have an average age of 45 years.
Research resources are concentrated on the more numerous adult cancers, leaving childhood cancer research to continue at a slower pace due to the availability of funding.