Province pledges $2M for the Michael Cuccione Foundation

The provincial government announced $2 million in funding for the Michael Cuccione Foundation on Tuesday, helping theB.C. Children's Hospital expand a new program for children withleukemia.

"We're giving new hope to children, who are told there is no more hope. That should never happen," said GloriaCuccione,Michael's mother and the foundations executive director, at a news conference.

The $2 million will expand clinical trials for a new type of cancer treatment, calledCAR-T cell therapy, which uses a patient's own immune cells to combat their cancer.

"We're not going to save them all, but we're going to have a team ... and be leaders in something that's going to give newfound hope to our babies and children," saidCuccione.

"Although researchers have made tremendous advances in the treatment of childhood cancer over the past 20 years, it still is the leading cause of death in disease of children. For that reason, we must continue to do all we can to support childhood-cancer research."

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TheMichaelCuccioneFoundation, which supports theMichaelCuccione Childhood Cancer Research program at B.C. Children's Hospital, was founded in 1997. Cuccionewas diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was nine, but the Burnaby native became a well-known young actor and singer before dying of respiratory failure at the age of 16.

"The work of the foundation is tireless, and we're right behind them providing funding and support to ensure a better approach to childhood cancers," said Linda Reimer, MLA for Port Moody-Coquitlam, in a statement.

"My hope is that with today's funding, we start seeing great breakthroughs with CAR-T cell therapy and even more improvements in child health."