The Truth 365 is the Emmy Award-Winning grass-roots documentary film and social media campaign that gives a voice to all children fighting all forms of cancer. Our mission is to shine a light on the state of childhood cancer research funding by uniting the childhood cancer community, members of Congress, top pediatric oncologists and several of the country’s most influential celebrities.
Grant Recipients
April 2023 – Arms Wide Open/The Truth 365 co-funds five research grants through their Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $250,000.
Grant 1 - $50,000:
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital -
Long-Sheng Chang, Osteosarcoma
Grant 2 - $50,000:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Jana Maria Ellegast, Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Grant 3 - $50,000:
Boston Children's Hospital – Alan Bruce Cantor, Ewing's Sarcoma and Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Grant 4 - $50,000:
University of Michigan Medical Center – John Prensner, Medulloblastoma
Grant 5 - $50,000:
Emory University – Kelsey Hunter Jonus, Neuroblastoma
December 2022 - Arms Wide Open grants $25,000 to Focused Ultrasound Foundation for Neuroblastoma Research at the University of Chicago, Dr. Kenneth Bader
December 2022 - Arms Wide Open grants $130,000 to the expansion and optimization of the Anti-Neuroblastoma Vaccine Trial.
November 2022 - As Founding Members of the DIPG/DMG Research Funding Alliance, Arms Wide Open and the Robert J. Michalski Memorial Fund, along with other foundations co-fund $1.1 million in DIPG/DMG research, data, trials, and the formation of the DIPG/DMG National Brain Tumor Board.
October 2022 - Arms Wide Open grants $25,000 to the expansion and optimization of the Anti-Neuroblastoma Vaccine Trial.
October 2022 - Arms Wide Open commits $400,000 to the expansion and optimization of the Anti-Neuroblastoma Vaccine Trial.
September 2022 - Emily's Army, an operating fund of Arms Wide Open, directs $10,000 to Nick Vitanza's Lab at Seattle Children's Hospital for Brain Tumor Research.
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April 2022 – Arms Wide Open/The Truth 365 co-funds five research grants through their Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $275,000.
Grant 1 - $100,000:
National Brain Tumor Society - Kirk Tanner, High Grade Gliomas
Grant 2 - $50,000:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Brian Crompton, Ewing Sarcoma
Grant 3 - $50,000:
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – Michael Goldstein, Medulloblastoma
Grant 4 - $50,000:
The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco – Benjamin Huang, Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Grant 5 - $25,000:
Emory University – Hunter Jonus, Neuroblastoma
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December 2021 - AWOCCF and partners grant $7,000 to the lab of Dr. Mariella Filbin at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
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October 2021 - AWOCCF and partners grant $250,000 to fully fund a Nurse Practitioner at Stanford, Lucile Packard for two years for their GD2 CAR-T Cell DIPG Clinical Trial.
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September 2021 - AWOCCF grants $7,500 to the Children's Hospital of Georgia for Pediatric Immunotherapy.
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September 2021 - AWOCCF invests $50,000 in OncoHeroes Biosciences, the first biotech company to develop drugs specifically for children and adolescents with cancer.
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April 2021 – The Truth 365 co-funds six research grants through their Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $325,000. Here are the grant awardees:
Grant 1 - $75,000: University of Chicago - Samuel Volchenboum, Osteosarcoma
Grant 2 - $50,000: University of Florida - Elias Sayour, Osteosarcoma
Grant 3 - $50,000: Massachusetts General Hospital - David Langenau, Rhabdomyosarcoma
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Grant 4 - $50,000: Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago - Rintaro Hashizume, AT/RT
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Grant 5 - $50,000: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia - Carolyn Felix, AML
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Grant 6 - $50,000: Dana Farber Cancer Institute - Brian Crompton, Ewing Sarcoma
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April 2020 – The Truth 365 co-funds six research grants totaling $300,000 through our Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program. Here are the grant awardees:
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Grant 1 – $50,000:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Joelle Straehla, High Grade Gliomas
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Grant 2 – $50,000:
Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope – Xin He – Pediatric, Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Grant 3 – $50,000:
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Carolyn Felix, Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia
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Grant 4 – $50,000:
University of Florida – Christina von Roemeling, Medulloblastoma
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Grant 5 – $50,000:
The University of Texas at Austin, Winson Ho, Medulloblastoma
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Grant 6 – $50,000:
University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Ramon Chang Sun, Ewing’s Sarcoma
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April 2019 – The Truth 365 funds four research grants through A Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $225,000. Here are the grant awardees:
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Grant 1 – $25,000: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – Sheng Cai, Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia
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Grant 2 – $100,000 two-year grant – Children’s Research Institute (CNMC) – Ran Tao – Medulloblastoma
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Grant 3 – $50,000 – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – Koichi Ogura, Ewing Sarcoma
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Grant 4 – $50,000 – Indiana University – Richard Dahl, Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia
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June 2018 – The Truth 365/AWOCCF Foundation co-funds $50,000 grant to Adam Durbin, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, for rhabdomyosarcoma research with The Rally Foundation.
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May 2018 – The Truth 365 funds seven research grants through A Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $225,000. Here are the grant awardees:
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Grant 1 – $25,000 – Columbia University – Koichi Oshima, Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
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Grant 2 – $50,000 – Childhood Cancer Therapy Development Institute – Charles Keller III, Wilms’ Tumor
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Grant 3 – $50,000: Children’s Research Institute – Melanie Grant, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma
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Grant 4 – $25,000 – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – Sheng Cai, Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia
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Grant 5 – $25,000 – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center – Allison Kaeding – Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Grant 6 – $25,000 – Memorial Sloan Kettering – Koichi Ogura, Ewing Sarcoma
Grant 7 – $25,000 – Dana Farber Cancer Institute – Angela Feraco, Palliative Care
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April 2017 – The Truth 365 funds seven research grants through A Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $380,000. Here are the grant awardees:
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Grant 1 – $50,000: Rockefeller University – Sanford Simon, Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma
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Grant 2 – $100,000 two-year grant: Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute – Charles Keller III, Wilms’ Tumor
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Grant 3 – $50,000 – Dana Farber Cancer Institute – Allison O’Neill, Ewing’s Sarcoma
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Grant 4 – $50,000 – Stanford University – Marius Wernig – Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma
Grant 5 – $50,000 – Emory University – Kevin Bunting, High Risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Grant 6 – $50,000 – City of Hope – Karen Aboody, Ependymoma
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Grant 7 – $30,000 – Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago – Simone Sredni, Malignant Rhabdoid Tumors
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April 2016 – The Truth 365 co-funds nine research grants through A Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $440,000. Here are the grant awardees:
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Grant 1 – $100,000: Rockefeller University – Sanford Simon, Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Grant 2 – $50,000: University of Alabama at Birmingham – Gregory Friedman, Medulloblastoma
Grant 3 – $50,000: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Jessica Panzer, Neuroblastoma
Grant 4 – $50,000: Johns Hopkins University – Jacqueline Brosnan-Cashman, High Grade Glioma
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Grant 5 – $50,000: University of Texas, MD Anderson – Vidya Gopalakrishnan, Recurrent Brain Tumors
Grant 6 – $50,000: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Sarah Tasian, AML & ALL
Grant 7 – $40,000: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – David Loeb, Ewing Sarcoma
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Grant 8 – $25,000: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center – Melinda Biernacki, AML
Grant 9 – $25,000: Children’s Research Institute (CNMC) – Javad Nazarian, DIPG
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April 2015 – The Truth 365 co-funds twelve research grants through A Collaborative Pediatric Cancer Research Awards Program totaling $600,000. Here are the grant awardees:
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Grant 1 – $50,000:
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Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support Dr. Xiaofeng Wang and his work on elucidating epigenetic mechanisms for therapeutic targeting in aggressive pediatric cancers; focusing on rhabdoid tumors, neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma.
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Grant 2- $50,000:
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MD Anderson Cancer Center to support Dr. Vidya Gopalakrishnan and her Phase I Immunotherapy Clinical Trial for recurrent pediatric brain tumors.
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Grant 3 – $50,000:
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Baylor College of Medicine to support Dr. Christopher DeRenzo’s project aimed at improving T-cell therapy for osteosarcoma.
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Grant 4 – $50,000
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Baylor College of Medicine to support Dr. Jason Yustein’s research aimed at dissecting and targeting the WNT pathway in metastatic osteosarcoma.
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Grant 5 – $50,000:
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Johns Hopkins University- School of Medicine to support Dr. David Loeb’s research aimed at circulating tumor DNA as a biomarker of metastasis in Ewing sarcoma.
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Grant 6 – $50,000:
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University of California San Francisco to support Kevin Shannon, MD in his research to test response and resistance to targeted and conventional agents in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
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Grant 7 – $50,000:
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Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to support Dr. Emily Slotkin’s research aimed at nucleic acid based therapeutics for the targeted treatment of Ewing sarcoma.
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Grant 8 – $50,000:
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Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support Dr. Brian Crompton’s research aimed at targeting FAK and integrin signaling in preclinical models of Ewing sarcoma.
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Grant 9 – $50,000:
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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to support Dr. Shakeel Modak’s Phase I Clinical Trial to study immuno-PET imaging of pediatric solid tumors using 124I-Humanized 3f8.
Grant 10 – $50,000:
Virginia Commonwealth University to support Dr. Anthony Faber in his research to test a novel and potent therapy for MYCN amplified neuroblastoma.
Grant 11 – $50,000:
University of Texas South Western Medical Center to support Dr. Theodore Laetsch’s research aimed at maximizing the therapeutic impact of CDK4/6 inhibition in rhabdomyosarcoma.
Grant 12 – $50,000
University of Alabama at Birmingham to support Dr. Gregory Friedman’s research aimed at targeting pediatric brain cancer with engineered Herpes Simplex Virus.
May 2014 – The Truth 365 co-funds six research grants with the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research totaling $275,000.
Here are the grant awardees:
Grant 1 – $50,000:
UC San Francisco to support Kevin Shannon, MD in his research to test new treatments for pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer with AML accounting for about20% of cases. In contrast to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), where 85-90% of children are now being cured, progress in AML has been much slower andtreatment protocols have not improved substantially since the 1980s. Dr. Shannon’s lab is investigating novel strategies for combining existing drugs with small molecules that target biochemical pathways that drive the growth of AML cells.
Grant 2- $50,000:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to support Dr. Cigall Kadoch and her work on chromatin regulation in pediatric sarcomas.
“We are most grateful for the support of Rally and The Truth 365 and are excited by the therapeutic implications of our recent work in this area,” said Dr. Kadoch. “These funds will be used to further develop our understanding of the mechanisms which underlie pediatric sarcomas such as synovial sarcoma.”
Grant 3- $50,000:
Baylor College of Medicine to support Dr. Christopher DeRenzo’s project aimed at harnessing the power of the body’s own immune system to treat pediatric solid tumors and brain tumors.
“Pediatric solid tumors and brain tumors contribute disproportionately to the morbidity and mortality of all children suffering from cancer, especially those with metastatic and/or recurrent disease,” said Dr. DeRenzo, at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Cancer Center, and the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy. “This award supports my efforts aimed at developing a novel T-cell therapy, which targets a broad range of pediatric malignancies including osteosarcoma, neuroblastoma, glioblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and Ewing’s sarcoma.”
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Grant 4- $50,000:
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center’s Division of Pediatric Oncology to support Don Small, M.D., Ph.D., and his research developing molecularly targeted therapy for FLT3 mutant pediatric acute myeloid leukemia.
“The money from this grant will enable us to carry out experiments to try to improve treatments for one of the most deadly pediatric leukemias, FLT3 mutant AML” said Don Small, M.D., Ph.D., Kyle Haydock Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.
Grant 5 – $50,000:
City of Hope to support Saro Armenian, D.O., M.P.H., and his research to lower heart failure risk amongst childhood cancer survivors.
“Childhood cancer survivors are often at risk for many serious conditions – including heart failures – due to the cancer treatments they have received,” Armenian said. “With the support of Rally and The truth 365, my team and I can continue to investigate how to minimize this risk so they can lead healthy, productive lives well into adulthood.”
Grant #6 – $25,000:
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to support Dr. Elizabeth J. Perlman’s project to analyze a molecular marker
(1q gain) in Wilms tumors.
“Our goal, through the Children’s Oncology Group, is to identify molecular markers that will ensure that each child with Wilms tumor receives the appropriate therapy. Gain of chromosome 1q predicts relapse at all stages, and we would like to utilize this to guide therapy in future protocols,” said Dr. Perlman
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"The Truth 365 has helped unify the childhood cancer community by being a great resource for families and foundations. They have helped generate an
incredible amount of awareness and funding for childhood cancer.
~ Donna Carmical, Journey4aCure