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What We Do

The Marit Swenson Shining Light Foundation for DMG/DIPG Research has three priorities:

Basic Information About DMG/DIPG

Any type of childhood cancer is devastating. In an ideal world, no child would get cancer and if they did, treatments would be effective and would cause little harm to the growing child. 

DMG/DIPG is particularly brutal because a child has a virtually a zero percent chance of survival.  While many cancers have seen progress over the past 50 years, DMG/DIPG has not, despite the efforts of dedicated doctors and researchers.  

There is no known cause of DMG/DIPG.  Although there are a handful of adults who do get DMG/DIPG, it is primarily a pediatric disease of the developing brain, occurring most often between the ages of 5-11. There is no scientific evidence that there is an environmental or hereditary cause.  

 

  • Children Diagnosed Each Year in USA

    Approximately 300

  • 5 Year Survival Rate

    Less than 2%

  • Number of Treatments Developed for DMG/DIPG

    Effective Treatments Developed has been 0

  • Percentage of Federal NIH's Budget Supporting DMG/DIPG research

    Less than 1%

The Shining Light Foundation Gives $22,000 to Support DMG/DIPG Precision Medicine

Gave $22,000 to the Koschmann Lab at the University of Michigan. Dr. Karl Koschmann and his research team use precision medicine to study how DMG/DIPG mutations can be therapeutically targeted. The grant money will specifically support the lab research of Dana Messinger, Ph.D. student, who is working on the interaction between the H3K27M and ATRX mutations. 

Thank you to our generous donors. We truly appreciate your support!

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