In honor of Childhood Cancer
Awareness Month, South Korean automotive brand Hyundai Motor Company announced
it will award $10.5 million in research grants to hospitals across the U.S.
during September.
This year marks the 17th
year Hyundai Motor America and its
non-profit organization, Hyundai Hope On Wheels, will continue its battle
against childhood cancer. The brand created its non-profit organization in 1998
to help raise funds for pediatric cancer. Hope On Wheels began as a group of
New England-area Hyundai dealers who were committed to fighting pediatric
cancer. The group launched a local initiative to support the Jimmy Fund at the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. It has since expanded to become a national
independent organization supported by Hyundai Motor Company.
To date, there are more than
820 dealers nationwide dedicated to the cause.
Most recently, the
organization announced it has awarded over $100 million in lifetime funding to
childhood cancer research. In addition to achieving this milestone, Hyundai Hope announced a
2015 national campaign christened “Every Handprint Tells a Story.” The theme of
the campaign is to communicate how every child’s handprint represents their
stories, dreams, desires, and hopes, whether they’re completing a round of
chemotherapy, celebrating a beautiful new head of hair, or playing their
favorite sport.
The campaign will showcase
videos profiling adolescent cancer patients, their parents, and families’
stories of courage and confidence. Each week, a family’s story will be posted
on the Hyundai Hope On
Wheels website as well as social media channels.
Hope On Wheels has provided an
interactive element where visitors can lend their own hand in the fight by
changing their social media avatar and sharing a child’s story, or by donating
to fund research.
You can also add your hands
in the fight to #endchildhoodcancer. Simply go to the website and click “Add My
Handprint” to join the fight against childhood cancer.
The fight to end pediatric
cancer is a crucial one. The National Cancer Institute spends over $4.8 billion
in healthcare, but spends less than four percent of its budget on research for
pediatric cancer research. More importantly, every 36 minutes, a child is
diagnosed with cancer, making it the leading cause of death by disease for
children in the U.S.
In 2014, more than 1,000
children aged 0 to 14 were expected to die of cancer.
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