Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) are aggressive cancers that resemble muscle tissue, and are more commonly occurring in children and teenagers. At the moment less than 30% of people with RMS tumours that have spread or reoccurred survive their cancer long-term.

But here at The Institute of Cancer Research we want to carry out further research into the disease, to improve the treatments options for this rare form of childhood cancer.

Current treatments include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. These can cause severe side-effects in a growing teenager or child. Even if the patient is cured, the side-effects of their treatment can be life-long and disabling. It’s this that motivates Professor Janet Shipley to find a solution and offer these youngsters a longer, healthier life.

Your donation will help support Professor Shipley’s work in these vital ways:

• identifying new ways to treat young patients with more aggressive disease
• examining drugs that are currently used to treat other types of cancer, to see if they could also be used to treat children and young people with RMS 
• in the longer term, working to discover completely new drugs for the disease.

Ultimately, this could lead to better, more effective treatments enabling many young patients with the most aggressive forms of RMS to lead longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives. 

Your gift will make a real difference to young people living with cancer.

Donate to this vital work