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Annual review 2019

Your donation

The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund works to ensure that all children who are diagnosed with cancer survive it and have a good life after their treatment. For this reason, we always carefully assess our initiatives to ensure the greatest benefit from the funds we raise. It is absolutely crucial to keep our own expenses low, and in 2019 an impressive 83.6 per cent of our raised funds went to our missions.

The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund is the single largest financier of research into childhood cancer in Sweden. Funding research is one of our most important missions. To ensure the best possible care for each child, it is also important to us to actively support and finance the development of new cancer therapies and to ensure that health care staff can get continuing training in paediatric oncology.

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family is affected, and they all need support in many ways. The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund works at the national level developing important advice and support measures for children with cancer and their families, to ensure that they receive rehabilitation and necessary recreation. In addition, we work actively to develop and spread information about childhood cancer and build public opinion on cancers in children and teens.

Where your money goes

”We know that survivors of childhood cancer are a group with many needs – and who are often met with incomprehension and lack of knowledge in the community. We started Maxa Livet in response to this.”

- Katarina Gold, head of Advice and Support

Three missions help to eradicate childhood cancer

To achieve our vision of eradicating childhood cancer, we need to provide more resources to research. It is also important that those suffering from childhood cancer – both the children and their families – get the advice and support they need and are entitled to. Our third mission, information, is crucial for the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund to continue to fund research and provide vital advice and support. The information mission raises awareness and increases knowledge about childhood cancer and why your donation is important.

 
Bequests - In 2019 the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund received over SEK 124 million from private individuals who bequeathed all or part of their estate to our continued work with fighting childhood cancer.

SEK 302 million to research and training resulted in:

  • the collection of 1,130 tissue samples from brain tumours and other solid paediatric tumours in the National Paediatric Tumour Biobank (BTB). Making samples and data available to all authorised researchers speeds up the research progress towards new findings and better treatments.
  • the funding of 81 research projects and 42 research positions, all of which bring us closer to our vision of eradicating childhood cancer.
  • one of our biggest grants ever, SEK 15 million, to map out congenital genetic causes of childhood cancer. This will lead to better prevention and treatment – and lives saved.
  • the training of 250 paediatric nurses and nurses’ aides, non-paediatric nurses and doctors in paediatric oncology nursing.
  • the foundations being laid of a strong partnership with childhood cancer organisations in the other Nordic countries, so that we can jointly have an even stronger voice and help research and care progress even faster.
  • our reaching the magic threshold of SEK 3 billion in grant awards for research since our start in 1982.
 
Wood art - Seven years ago, a neighbour remarked that Sven and Egon’s big wood pile looked like a chapel. That kicked off an annually recurring tourist invasion to the courtyard outside Falköping. The 2019 circus theme brought in an incredible SEK 138,540.

SEK 44.5 million to advice and support resulted in:

  • 90 people participating in six conversation days for grandparents. Grandparents are a group in great need of support because they’re doubly affected – their grandchild is sick and their own child is in a life crisis.
  • our introduction of digital conversational support to childhood cancer patients and families. A total of 45 families got the support through 445 conversations with mothers, fathers, children with cancer and their siblings.
  • 188 young cancer patients and their siblings participating in our camps. A camp is an invaluable opportunity to meet others in the same situation, feel a sense of belonging and have fun.
  • 210 people signed up for the Maxa Livet programme, a 100% increase compared with December 2018. Maxa Livet (Get the most out of life) is the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund’s programme for adults who had cancer as children.
  • 20 courses were conducted in Maxa Livet, with a total of 376 participants. The aim of the courses is to strengthen the individual, and they focus on themes like creativity, mental strength, the labour market and health and diet.
  • 42 school robots that allowed children with cancer to participate in school instruction during ongoing treatment.
  • funding for consulting nurses and sibling support coordinators at the nation’s six paediatric oncology centres and other locations – an important, invaluable support for affected families.
 
Spin of hope - More than 30,000 people participated in the Spin of Hope at one of the 124 locations that arranged the event. Together they raised SEK 6.8 million.

SEK 47.5 million to information resulted in:

  • the seventh issue of the Childhood Cancer Report. The report is an important tool for the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund’s lobbying work. The 2019 report highlighted the growing group of survivors of childhood cancer and the lack of follow-up after a childhood cancer. The report generated some 110 articles and a 10 million media impressions.
  • an informational campaign about the increase in five-year survival from 80 to 85% for children diagnosed with cancer, and the difference made by research. The news was reported 130 times in the media, resulting in 9.7 million impressions.
  • about 150 articles and reports published on barncancerfonden.se to raise awareness and spotlight childhood cancer. Moving material has been published on our YouTube channel and brought 2.4 million views. The material has been shared on social media, where we had a reach of 15.8 million and contributed to 2 million visits to our website during the year.
  • four issues of Barn&Cancer and two issues of Maxa Livet – a magazine about adult survivors of childhood cancer – were published and reached about 70,000 recipients.
  • the televised Childhood Cancer Gala was held for the fifth time. The telethon is the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund’s single most important initiative for reaching out to new monthly donors – who are the cornerstone of our long-term efforts to combat childhood cancer. It is also an important channel for raising awareness of childhood cancer and its consequences.
  • The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund was on site at Almedalen Political Week on Gotland to lobby and provide information about childhood cancer. We held two seminars on the lack of new medicines for children and psychosocial support for children with cancer and their families.

Read more about how your donation is used and makes a difference in our impact report