Is it Easter yet?

You might think so with the children on the pediatric oncology ward at Unimedizin Mainz, because they were given little Easter bunnies and lambs in the form of fluffy cuddly toys.

The team from Joyset are the ones who came up with this happy surprise. Shortly before the turn of the year, customers were able to donate to the campaign via their portal, and distribution began just in time for spring. The visitor duo from Joyset took care of that themselves, making the day a little cosier for the kids on the ward and those who were in the clinic for outpatient appointments.

We would like to say a big thank you to the Joyset team for their visit in Mainz and for this creative campaign. Now Easter can really come!

International Childhood Cancer Day

International Childhood Cancer Day was established more than 20 years ago to draw attention to the disease in children and adolescents. A lot has happened since then, especially with regard to the therapies and the associated chances of recovery after a diagnosis: Today, 80% of the newly diagnosed cases, around 35,000 per year across Europe, have good prospects of recovery.

Stiftung Juno works with many other collaborators to ensure that every day, children and young people with cancer receive the best possible care. This includes sports and exercise therapy, which provides young patients with fun and a change, as well as physical fitness and better chances of cure. Therefore, our foundation supports sports programs for children and young people suffering from cancer.

We are also committed to ensuring that research into childhood cancer takes place at the highest level and that one day, our vision will become reality: all children with cancer can be cured.

You too can help. Get active. Donate today.
15.2. is International Childhood Cancer Day

Let the fun begin: Juno Runs 2023

The sun is showing up more often again. With spring approaching, more runners like to intensify their training.

A fun run, preferably outside in the fresh air, and doing something good for your body and for a good cause at the same time… We are now calling on all running enthusiasts and those who would like to be inspired: arrange a charity run in favor of Stiftung Juno!

No matter whether young or old, slow or fast, whether club, college, school, community, circle of friends, neighbors or family – organizing and holding a charity run welds people together, is fun and is also for a good cause.

How it works? Here we have summarized tips about the Juno charity run for institutions that work with children.

Of course, groups of adults can also participate. We are happy about every big and no matter how small commitment. Because exercise is good for all of us, both healthy and sick people. That is why the Juno Foundation finances sports and exercise therapy for children and young people with cancer.

Use your muscle power and be active against childhood cancer.

Spotlight on… Harald Jaeger

Stiftung Juno Kinderkrebshilfe is an organisation very near to my heart. This is for a variety of reasons. In business life I act as part of networks. As an Investor Relations Manager, I travel a lot and have the great privilege of meeting interesting and very active people around the world. We also like to think outside the box and exchange views on the important questions in life. That is, especially of life!

 

I was struck by childhood cancer in my own family, confronted with the suffering and powerlessness of my loved ones. And also the helplessness, although one had always found a solution for everything – up to that point!

 

So I wanted to do something active. Public relations, “drumming” for the foundation, carrying the message and the thoughts further. But also initiating new things in this huge research area of ​​cancer. I am involved with dicehub.com as a founding partner via the DataTech approach. Computer simulation models play an enormously important role in future research approaches. Here, too, I will be very happy to contribute my opportunities for the Juno Foundation.

 

“Detours increase local knowledge” is my motto that has accompanied me for a long time. Accelerating these detours and getting help to fight childhood cancer more quickly will be and remain my motivation. For this reason, I am happy to have accepted my place on the Board of Trustees of the Juno Foundation.

Play and fun – distraction through sports therapy

Distraction from the daily grind at hospital is always welcome among young cancer patients. This is where sports therapy comes in. Some pediatric oncology centers offer personalised exercise therapy, which is often financed through charitable organisations rather than health care providers – despite its positive effect on the chances of recovery.

One of the research studies that Stiftung Juno Kinderkrebshilfe supports, aims to make young patients stronger for fighting childhood cancer, and to show that exercise training has remarkable effects on successful cancer treatment.

In order to make the effects of regular exercise measurable, periodic sports tests are carried out with the children who take part in the current study. For example, an increase in performance and other parameters is checked and documented. The sports tests, which are carried out by the sports therapists with whom the children are familiar, can sometimes be exhausting. It is all the more motivating for the kids to know that they can then choose a gift from the surprise box after the session. Games, books and puzzles can be found here, which in turn lead to distraction from everyday hospital life.

 “The children are happy when they have completed their tasks and can take something from the box. There is something in there for everyone”

tells us one of the sports therapists.

In another children’s oncology center, the toys are used in the playroom. Here, too, they ensure fun and motivation. Some games are introduced into the sports therapy units to loosen them up in a playful way.

We are pleased to put a smile on the little patients’ faces and would like to thank Ravensburger for their generous donations.

Spotlight on… Angela Kast

“Time we take is time that gives us something.”

– Ernst Ferstl

Based on this principle, I joined the Board of Trustees at Stiftung Juno Kinderkrebshilfe in April 2022, and have been benefiting from my voluntary work ever since. I would like to take time for the little heroes whose foundation for a fulfilling life has faltered.

As an enthusiastic mountaineer and practicing yogini, I know about the balancing, and even healing, effects of physical activity. That is why I was immediately convinced by the efforts of Stiftung Juno to increase children’s chances of recovery through exercise. Ensuring the best possible support for the healing of the children is a matter close to my heart.

As a qualified lawyer, I live in Munich and work as a financing specialist for mezzanine capital to close the financing gaps of real estate investors and project developers in acquisitions, project developments and refinancing. My hands-on mentality, which is necessary for this, is equally beneficial for my work on the Board of Trustees.

Let us ensure together that the affected children will be able to still take time for themselves in the future. We cannot prevent the diseases, but we can try to ensure the best possible chances of recovery.

Gifts for a good cause

Under the motto “Gifting and Donating”, a campaign to support Juno Children’s Cancer Aid Foundation has been initiated by Joyset. Stuffed animals can be bought in their online shop, which will then be given away to children with cancer. You can choose between a cute sheep and a cuddly bunny, €12.90 and €14.90 each (no shipping costs). The entire proceeds from the campaign will be donated to Stiftung Juno.

 

We would like to say a heartfelt thank you to the team at Joyset, who have started a Christmas campaign in our favor once again.

 

Responding to childrens’ questions about cancer: a communications training for clinical staff

Dr Sarah Herlofsen, author of children’s books and member of our board of trustees, has made it her heart’s desire to support children and families affected by cancer.

 

She passed on her experiences to us as part of a communications training course aimed at nursing staff and other clinic employees who have direct patient contact. Under the title “Talking about cancer with children using images”, her lecture offers approaches to address children’s questions in an objective, informative and easily understandable way. It provides child-friendly explanations of what actually happens to the body in the event of cancer and how therapies can help. Even difficult topics such as fears, feelings of guilt and dying are not left out. She works with images to communicate at child level and to encourage little ones to talk about the disease.

 

Her audience – today she speaks in the seminar room of the University Hospital in Mainz – works with children who suffer from cancer and their families. They provide not only nursing and medical care, but accompany the families also in socio-pedagogical, psychological, therapeutic and other ways. Regardless of the years of experience, everyone nods their heads in agreement with what is said, and the room becomes very quiet. Personal dialogues with the little patients and parents are buzzing around in their heads. The lecture is concluded with a Q&A and discussion, which shows that the communication coaching offers new impetus for working with the children. And the certainty that not all children’s questions have to be answered by adults. But we can support the children to find their own answers.

 

You can read more about this topic in the book “Wie ist das mit dem Krebs?” by Dr. Sarah Herlofsen, published by Gabriel Verlag.

“Today I feel strong!” – A day in sports therapy

It’s 9 a.m. and the first little patient is eagerly awaiting his sports lesson. We are in pediatric oncology, the two sports therapists have compiled the schedule for today’s patients and checked with the medical team that all children are fit to exercise today.

Off we go to the ward’s sports room. It is equipped with large and small sports equipment and accessories in bright colors. A bicycle is there for warm-ups, and 6-year-old Leo rides it for seven minutes because, so he says:

“Today I feel strong!”

Then he helps sports therapist Lena, with whom he has built up a relationship of trust, set up an exercise course across the sports room. There is a bit of everything: Balancing, climbing over soft building blocks, and a toss into the basketball hoop. The drip stand keeps moving along next to him, but Leo doesn’t let that distract him. Especially during slalom football training, he is completely focused on himself, and everything else literally falls away from him. All the hardships of recent times. Also the disappointment that he couldn’t watch his favorite team’s football game at the stadium because he wasn’t feeling well – even though it was his birthday present. He bravely states: “It’s ok because at least my brother was able to go in my place”. He misses his brother a lot, as well as his twin sister and his younger sister.

Finally, Leo asks Lena for a football match between small fold-up goals, and he easily defeats her. Exhausted but satisfied, he and his mother make their way back to their room on the ward.

The sports lesson is a most welcome change in everyday hospital life. It is designed to be fun for the children and motivate them to exercise regularly. Sports can give them an energy boost, especially after taking certain medications, when they are tired or in a bad mood. Even if the children store water, for example, and exercise is difficult but important, the sports therapists can motivate them to participate in playful activities. This is even possible in their room, should the way to the sports room not be possible.

The day takes its course. Altogether, four children receive their sports therapy today. The offer, which is in part financed by donations, is aimed at both inpatients and those who come to the clinic for an outpatient appointment. A big thank you for letting us participate in today’s sessions!

 

*Names have been changed by the editors.

 

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we’re raising awareness for better, safer treatments for kids fighting cancer. It is a time to celebrate advances in childhood cancer treatment and survivorship care, and to remember the children we’ve lost.

Survivorship has been a core pillar of Stiftung Juno Kinderkrebshilfe‘s mission. The chances of cure have improved considerably in recent years as a result of intensive research and now stand at over 80 percent. However, this positive rate also shows that there remains work to be done.

Approximately 95 percent of adult childhood cancer survivors suffer from at least one long-term late effect as a result of their cancer or its therapy. And, across Europe, approximately 35,000 children and adolescents under the age of 18 are newly diagnosed with cancer each year. In order to give every child a chance to beat cancer, further research projects as well as collaborations between hospitals and research institutions are necessary.

And that is where we come in. Join Stiftung Juno Kinderkrebshilfe as an advocate in our mission of achieving a day when every child with cancer can live a long and healthy life. What contribution would you like to make this September? Here we’ll give you some ideas – or get in touch with us to discuss your individual contribution. Gold is the color around the CCAM – let’s go gold!

 

* Share the posts and messages on social media provided by Juno Children’s Cancer Aid Foundation

* Use social media covers for the month of September

* Encourage local schools to go gold by selling gold ribbons, hosting a Go Gold cake sale, or selling Go Gold merchandise

* Encourage local communities to go Gold by walking down your local high street with posters to use on shop windows etc, getting train stations to go Gold and local landmarks to go Gold

* Host a gold-themed coffee chat

* Encourage local advocates to get involved and participate in campaigns

 

We appreciate your commitment and your donations to the Juno Children’s Cancer Aid Foundation.