St. Baldrick’s Foundation awards Bon Secours $50,000 grant
November 21, 2024
Funds will support life-saving clinical trials closer to home for patients
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation has announced its 2024 grant recipients, and Bon Secours St. Francis Cancer Center is proud to be among the organizations selected.
Bon Secours will receive $50,000 which will be used to fund a full-time clinical research nurse coordinator, devoted to patients in its Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Care program. The staff member will help ensure every patient is screened for research trials, which are often their best hope for new treatments, improved quality of life, and long-term survival.
“As a community cancer center, Bon Secours St. Francis is truly grateful for St. Baldrick’s support as we strive to provide access and enrollment to potentially life-saving clinical trials right here in the Upstate. By keeping these expanded care options closer to home, we avoid uprooting patients and their families during an already disruptive time in their lives,” said Dr. Hal Crosswell, Director of the AYA program at Bon Secours.
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is the nation’s largest charitable funder of childhood cancer research grants, enabling organizations to expand patient access to pediatric cancer clinical trials and to accelerate scientific discoveries to conquer kids’ cancer. Made possible by St. Baldrick’s volunteers and donors who contribute generously, these grants are critical to ensuring that more kids are treated on clinical trials – often a child’s last chance for a cure.
Clinical trials are the last stage of research which lead to new approved drugs and/or therapies that improve the quality of life for patients and survivors, as well as the long-term survival of children with cancer. The Foundation’s infrastructure grants support programs and the personnel necessary to open and coordinate clinical trials and provide survivorship care.
For more information about St. Baldrick’s Foundation Grants or ways to get involved, please visit StBaldricks.org.
About Bon Secours
Bon Secours St. Francis is part of Bon Secours Mercy Health (BSMH), one of the 20 largest health systems in the United States and the fifth-largest Catholic health system in the country. The ministry’s quality, compassionate care is provided by more than 60,000 associates serving communities in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia, as well as throughout Ireland. Bon Secours Mercy Health provides care for patients more than 11 million times annually through its network of more than 1,200 care sites, which includes 49 hospitals. In 2023, BSMH provided more than $600 million dollars in community investments across five states, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to health care for our patients in need. Locally, Bon Secours St. Francis provides compassionate medical care to thousands of area residents through Bon Secours St. Francis Downtown and Bon Secours St. Francis Eastside, as well as a network of primary and specialty care practices, and ambulatory care sites across the Greenville region. The mission of Bon Secours St. Francis is to extend the compassionate ministry of Jesus by improving the health and well-being of our communities and bring good help to those in need, especially people who are poor, dying and underserved. For more information, visit BonSecours.com.
About St. Baldrick’s Foundation
Every 2 minutes, a child somewhere in the world is diagnosed with cancer. In the U.S., 1 in 5 will not survive. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, has awarded more than $354 million to researchers to Conquer Kids’ Cancer. When you give to St. Baldrick’s, you don’t just give to one hospital – you support every institution with the expertise to treat kids with cancer across the U.S. St. Baldrick’s ensures that children fighting cancer now — and those diagnosed in the future — will have access to the most cutting-edge treatment, by supporting every stage of research, from new ideas in the lab to the training of the next generation of researchers, to lifesaving clinical trials. St. Baldrick’s has played a role in virtually every advancement in the field over the past 25 years and remains essential in advancing progress and fostering innovation in childhood cancer research. Visit StBaldricks.org and help #ConquerKidsCancer.
