Acclaimed A LION IN THE HOUSE Team Honored in Washington for Pioneering Work on Pediat...( Receives National Award for Armin...),Health

Receives National Award for Arming Oncologists, Families and Caregivers to Fight Childhood Cancer

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When the critically acclaimed A LION IN THE HOUSE documentary aired on PBS stations in 2006, the film galvanized public attention for childhood cancer by following the stories of five courageous children and their families. Now, LION's producers are being honored in Washington for going the next step - by creating new educational tools so oncologists, families and caregivers will be better prepared to handle the stresses that can tear a family apart.

In conjunction with the 11th Biennial Symposium on Minorities, The Medically Underserved & Cancer hosted by the Intercultural Cancer Council in Washington, DC, LION producers Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Melissa Godoy, and Karen Durgans will receive the prestigious "Susan Matsuko Shinagawa Livestrong Cancer Control Leadership Award" at an award ceremony on April 4. The award recognizes the contributions of the LION team in creating a series of video modules for use by nurses, physicians and mental health professionals that use stories from the LION documentary to address survivorship issues.

Each year, more than 12,500 children and adolescents are diagnosed and over 40,000 are treated for a childhood cancer. Since the 1950s, cure rates for pediatric cancer have risen from less than 10 percent to nearly 80 percent, but childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in the United States. Of the 230,000 long-term survivors of childhood cancer, two-thirds of children will experience long-term and often life threatening side effects.

"Today, the ability to successfully treat childhood cancers has improved dramatically, but consequences of this tremendous success are the "late effects" of being treated for cancer, which affect survivors' long-term health and quality of life," said Jay Silver, ICC's Executive Director.
'/>"/>