Celebrating the end of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September, local nonprofit Chase After a Cure made its annual donation to the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital. Representatives from Chase After a Cure presented a check for $120,000 to pediatric oncologist Dr. Jacqueline Kraveka and her team. Dr. Kraveka’s research laboratory, housed in the Darby Children's Research Institute, is the only laboratory in the state of South Carolina dedicated to pediatric cancer research. 

Chase After a Cure raises awareness about childhood cancer, specifically neuroblastoma, and funds childhood cancer research and equipment at MUSC Children’s Hospital. Since its founding, Chase After a Cure has raised almost $1 million for the work being done at MUSC, which will ultimately benefit children around the world. 

Chase After a Cure was started in 2009 by Summerville resident Whitney Ringler and her family after her son, Chase, was given a 30 percent chance of survival after being diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nerve tissue of the sympathetic nervous system. Chase survived this aggressive form of cancer and now his family works tirelessly on behalf of childhood cancer research. 

Cancer is the No. 1 cause of disease-related death among children. About 13,500 children between birth and age 19 are diagnosed with cancer each year. Just at the Medical University of South Carolina, about 70 children are diagnosed with pediatric cancer annually.