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Chasing Away Childhood Cancer

New ‘Chase Away Childhood Cancer’ License Plate to Benefit Chase After a Cure

Soon it will be easy for anyone with a vehicle to support childhood cancer research efforts right here in South Carolina. A new pediatric cancer specialty license plate has been approved by the South Carolina Legislature and will available to the public this spring.

The “Chase Away Childhood Cancer” plate can be purchased for both motor vehicles and motorcycles. The plate is available from the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles for a fee of $50 every two years in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee. Proceeds from the license plate will benefit Summerville-based nonprofit Chase After a Cure in its work raising awareness and funding research for childhood cancer.

Summerville resident Whitney Ringler and her family founded Chase After a Cure after her son, Chase, was given a 30 percent chance of survival after being diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma. Since its founding in 2009, Chase After a Cure has donated about $615,000 to MUSC for research and equipment, specifically in the area of the very aggressive neuroblastoma.

Another Summerville area mother, Julie Reynolds, approached Chase After a Cure with the idea for a specialty license plate as a way to honor her 17-year-old daughter, Rachel, who died in 2014 from a rare form of cancer.

Childhood cancer advocates around the country are working to get a childhood cancer license plate in all 50 states.

“This is a daily reminder to people of the need for more childhood cancer awareness and research funding,” said Adam White, executive director of Chase After a Cure. “We hope when people are sitting in traffic and see this license plate in front of them, they will pause to consider all the children fighting cancer and the need for more research into better treatments and an eventual cure.”

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.

MUSC Children’s Hospital is a member of the Children’s Oncology Group, the world’s premier pediatric cancer research collaborative. Chase After a Cure works closely with pediatric oncologist Dr. Jacqueline Kraveka. Her research laboratory, housed in the Darby Children’s Research Institute, is the only laboratory in the state of South Carolina dedicated to translational pediatric cancer research.

To support South Carolina’s work in childhood cancer research, purchase the “Chase Away Childhood Cancer” specialty license plate this spring. For more information, please fill out the following form.

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