88:, thanks to the hard work and determination of Ferraro and the Bite Me Cancer Foundation. McAuliffe stated in his declaration that "the health and safety of all Virginians is essential to the happiness and well-being of the Commonwealth’s families and communities, whereas cancer is the leading cause of death in the adolescent population, and whereas the survival rates for adolescent cancer have not improved in the last thirty years." The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors provided a proclamation for Teen Cancer Awareness Week in January 2015, and Bite Me Cancer officially announced on January 4, 2015, that the awareness week would begin the same year. In his declaration, Governor McAuliffe also highlighted the fact that many teens battling cancer are "isolated from their friends and family," and noted the importance of "vigorously" supporting them as they return to everyday social and academic settings. Bite Me Cancer continues to raise awareness in schools and homes with this annual event.
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are currently few programs in place to support teenagers with cancer, but there are thousands of programs to support young children and adults. Teenagers with cancers often require specific treatment and support, and there is very little awareness of the struggles that teenagers with cancer face. By developing and shipping the Teen
Support Bags to hospitals around the country for their teenagers battling cancer and holding events to raise awareness, Bite Me Cancer is participating in a movement to increase support and make more resources available to these special teenagers.
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received the Women in
Endocrinology Young Investigator Award and the American Thyroid Association Grant for her research in 2014. Dadu's research "will work with experts in the field of immunotherapy to uncover new information of prognosis and how medications interact with the cancer". "The ultimate goal is to see that many patients will benefit from this approach."
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and can be aggressive. Medullary thyroid cancer is rare, accounting for 3–4% of all thyroid cancer diagnoses. Currently, medullary thyroid cancer is noncurative, meaning that those diagnosed with this form of thyroid carcinoma will likely battle it for the rest of their lives. Less than a handful of drugs have been approved for medullary thyroid cancer treatment.
27:, founded in Fairfax County, Virginia, in September 2010 by Nikki Ferraro and her parents, Sharon Ferraro and C. Michael Ferraro. Bite Me Cancer was founded with the goal to support teenagers with all types of cancer, in addition to providing direct funding to research and improve awareness and advocacy for thyroid cancer. Bite Me Cancer partners with the
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stuffing and distribution of the Teen
Support Bags every year with groups of volunteers. Each bag includes items to eliminate stress, inspire and support teenagers currently undergoing cancer treatment. Nikki Ferraro tries to hand-deliver the bags to teens, offering advice and encouragement during their treatments.
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As of June 2021, Bite Me Cancer has passed out 8,600 Teen
Support Bags across the country to teens with cancer through a growing network of hospitals that enable teenagers in every state and DC to receive the bags. Currently, about 150 hospitals are part of the network. The foundation coordinates the
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Bite Me Cancer, with Nikki’s leadership, developed its Teen
Support Bag and handed out the first one in 2012. It was and still is important that the items are chosen specifically for teen cancer patients. Teenagers dealing with cancer fall through the cracks between the younger pediatric patients and
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Ferraro explains that many people refer to thyroid cancer as the "good cancer" due to the perception that there is not a high rate of mortality, its history of being diagnosed in a smaller group of people and that losing the thyroid is not a difficult situation. However, thyroid cancer is dangerous
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Bite Me Cancer organizes annual events, including an annual wine dinner (2014–present) every year to honor and celebrate with cancer survivors including Nikki
Ferraro, who was diagnosed in April 2010. The focus on onsite donations during the dinner is to support our Teen Support Bag program. There
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in
Houston, Texas. The two-year research project, titled "Immune Markers in Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC) and Their Clinical Significance", and began in July 2014. Dadu is an assistant professor at Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Endocrine Neoplasia & Hormonal Disorders. Dadu also
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after raising over $ 20,000. Nikki was driven to take the support she received from the Relay experience and turn it into a widespread campaign to help others dealing with cancer. Three months later, in
September 2010, Bite Me Cancer was incorporated into a foundation.
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Two months after the formation of Bite Me Cancer, Nicole
Ferraro received the 2010 Leadership Fairfax Non-Profit Educational Leadership Award. The following year, she received the first-ever Perlita Liwanag Scholarship from the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults at
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When Nikki was diagnosed, thyroid cancer was the fastest increasing cancer in the US with very few treatment options. In her case, surgery was the only available treatment. Directly funding research grants became a high priority for Bite Me Cancer.
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Bite Me Cancer has funded seven research grants for thyroid cancer in the past and is working toward funding another during 2021. The first grant, totaling $ 57,500, was awarded in 2014 to Ramona Dadu, MD at the
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to raise awareness and fund grants across the world. Bite Me Cancer seeks to both support teenagers with all types of cancer and directly fund for thyroid cancer research.
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team in support of her diagnosis, and two months later finished as the #1 individual fundraiser in South
Atlantic Region of the
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declared the third week of January, starting in 2015, Teen Cancer Awareness Week in the
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adult patients. They need much support as they face unique challenges.
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266:. Fairfax County, Virginia. January 13, 2015. Archived from
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At the age of 17, Nikki Ferraro was diagnosed with sporadic
570:Medical and health organizations based in Virginia
348:. MD Anderson Cancer Center. 2014. Archived from
565:Cancer organizations based in the United States
377:. American Thyroid Association. July 22, 2014.
292:. Virginia Governor's Office. January 13, 2015
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290:"Proclamation – Teen Cancer Awareness Month"
145:Rust, LeMunyon and Plum (January 12, 2011).
264:Jan. 13, 2015 Board of Supervisors Meeting
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515:. Bite Me Cancer. 2011. Archived from
173:"Perlita Liwanag Memorial Scholarship"
313:"Thyroid Cancer: NOT The Good Cancer"
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80:On July 31, 2014, Virginia Governor
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179:. Ulman Fund. 2013. Archived from
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560:Organizations established in 2010
485:. Bite Me Cancer. Archived from
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311:Ferraro, Nicole (Jan 27, 2013).
147:"House Joint Resolution No. 670"
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149:. Virginia House of Delegates.
16:American nonprofit organization
260:"Board of Supervisors Meeting"
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234:"Teen Cancer Awareness Month"
240:. Virginia Governor's Office
29:American Thyroid Association
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238:Virginia Governor's Office
76:Teen Cancer Awareness Week
403:. American Cancer Society
232:McAuliffe, Terry (2015).
108:MD Anderson Cancer Center
21:Bite Me Cancer Foundation
203:"Bite Me Cancer – About"
86:Commonwealth of Virginia
41:medullary thyroid cancer
580:501(c)(3) organizations
53:American Cancer Society
62:Chantilly High School
489:on February 19, 2015
270:on February 23, 2015
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319:. BiteMeCancerOrg.
25:501(c) organization
509:"BMC Teen Support"
519:on March 20, 2015
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483:"Events"
461:Archived
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151:Archived
101:Research
467:Feb 20,
457:YouTube
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35:History
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.