Childhood Cancer in Japan
Childhood cancer is the number one cause of death for children in Japan. A child is diagnosed with cancer in Japan about once every 3-4 hours each day. While the prognosis for many childhood cancers has improved significantly, the treatment process is still long and grueling. Children undergoing treatment for cancer in Japan are generally hospitalized for quite a long time – 6 months to one year or more. This puts an incredible burden on the patients and on the family supporting them. For example, mothers go to the hospital daily, staying from early morning until their child goes to sleep at night. By necessity, their world becomes the hospital, even if this is at the expense of spending time with the rest of their family. For the children undergoing cancer treatment, hospitalization can be isolating (often children under 12 are not allowed to visit the cancer ward) and frustrating. Most kids in treatment really want nothing more than to do normal kid things – like play with friends, eat what they want and go to school.
The Tyler Foundation
The Tyler Foundation is dedicated to making life better for kids with cancer in Japan and their families. Incorporated as a Non-Profit Organization under the laws of Japan in July 2006, the foundation is supported entirely by private and corporate donations. The creation of the organization was inspired by the smiles and courage of Mark and Kim Ferris’ son Tyler, who spent much of his short life battling a very difficult-to-cure kind of leukemia. After they lost Tyler, they realized there were many ways to take Tyler’s struggles and their experience and create something positive for families going through what they had endured. While the level of medical treatment in Japan is one of the best in the world, the area of patient support is still relatively undeveloped. The Tyler Foundation hopes to redefine the concept of patient support in Japan to create a complete patient support system: from the moment of diagnosis, throughout treatment and even after discharge from hospital.
Goals
Drawing from the personal experience of the Ferris’, and with the guidance of a quality Japanese medical advisory team, the Tyler Foundation is working towards the following goals:
- To empower children with cancer and their families through counseling, education, club activities and sibling support.
- To realize excellence in medical teams and treatment by providing additional medical staff, enabling collaboration among medical teams and supporting targeted research.
- To raise awareness of childhood cancer in the community through academic circles, general public volunteering and corporate sponsor involvement.
Programs
The Tyler Foundation has established a range of programs to meet these goals to make the fight a little easier and the future much brighter for kids and their families. Most of these programs originally started out on a small scale and were launched at Tyler’s hospital, The National Center for Child Health and Development in Setagaya-ku to act as a model for other hospitals. Today, we have programs at hospitals throughout Japan, with the number increasing each month.
ICCCPO Membership
Since October 2008, the Tyler Foundation has been a member of the International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organizations (ICCCPO). This worldwide organization is dedicated to realizing cooperation and the sharing of information and experiences between parent groups across the globe. The goal of ICCCPO is to provide the growing network of organizations the resources and support to improve the treatment and care of children with cancer in their home countries.
Official Documentation
Tyler Foundation Business Report 2010 (PDF)
Tyler Foundation Articles of Incorporation (PDF)
Contact Us
We welcome your feedback on the website and foundation, and your questions about any of our events and activities. Also, if you have a story you’d like to share related to childhood cancer, please do get in touch with us. To contact us, please send an email info@tylershineon.org.
