The 2026 Childhood Cancer Report
From diagnosis to research: measuring momentum in the search for cures
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In 1997, Alex Scott was wheeled out of the operating room following her first surgery to remove a neuroblastoma tumor that was precariously positioned around her kidneys and spine. It was her very first birthday. Alex would only get seven more—but in her 8 years, Alex, although just a child, held firm to a vision that everyone could make a difference.
Her story would include more surgeries, experimental treatments, several hospitals, not enough first days of school, three brothers, and lemonade stands. Alex was 4 when she first asked her parents if she could host a lemonade stand to raise money for her doctors.
Little did they know that Alex would be one of the many incredible visionaries who would shape and change the trajectory of research for childhood cancer.
Nearly 30 years later, children diagnosed with cancer in the United States have an 85% chance of long-term survival. Still, 15% of children in the United States will die from cancer. And most children are still receiving treatments that, while effective, leave lasting, irreversible side effects.
And then there is the great global divide created by disparities in financial resources and public health infrastructure that leaves 90% of the world’s childhood cancer population with only slivers of hope for cures. These children, who are diagnosed with cancers that are treatable and curable in countries like the United States, have limited treatment options and may not even be able to access the earliest, most inexpensive chemotherapies. These are the children who might not ever be diagnosed and instead will succumb to an unnamed disease, while their families navigate impossible to quantify grief.
As we look toward the future, we know research holds the key to unlocking cures. But we also know that bridging barriers in access will take much more than scientific breakthroughs. It will take more funding, more legislative change, and more collaboration across oceans and political borders.
A reporter once asked little Alex Scott if her goal of raising $1 million was possible and Alex said: “I think if we all work together, we can do it.”
The progress made in finding cures for children with cancer has been challenging, but it has happened thanks to collaboration—collaboration that will continue to grow and spread so that someday all children have cures.