All kinds of cancer, including childhood cancer, have a common disease process — cells grow out of control, develop abnormal sizes and shapes, ignore their typical boundaries inside the body, destroy their neighbor cells, and can ultimately spread (or metastasize) to other organs and tissues. As cancer cells grow, they demand more and more of the body's nutrition. Cancer takes a child's strength, destroys organs and bones, and weakens the body's defenses against other illnesses.

Cancer affects only about 14 of every 100,000 children in the United States each year. Among all age groups, the most common childhood cancers are leukemia, lymphoma, and brain cancer. As children enter their teen years, there is also an increase in the incidence of osteosarcoma (bone cancer). The sites of cancer are different for each type, as are treatment and cure rates.

Typically, the factors that trigger cancer in children are usually not the same factors that may cause cancer in adults, such as smoking or exposure to environmental toxins. Rarely, there may be an increased risk of childhood cancer in kids who have a genetic condition, such as Down syndrome. Those who have had chemotherapy or radiation treatment for a prior cancer episode may also have an increased risk of cancer. In almost all cases, however, childhood cancers arise from noninherited mutations (or changes) in the genes of growing cells. Because these errors occur randomly and unpredictably, currently there is no effective way to prevent them.

The mission of CureSearch NCCF is to raise funds and awareness to conquer childhood cancer. These funds support the work of the Children's Oncology Group, the leading organization of doctors and scientists dedicated to discovery and compassionate cures for infants to young adults with cancer at over 200 institutions throughout North America and abroad.