Welcome to the Christopher Court Foundation

The Christopher Court Foundation is dedicated to advancing research into pediatric brain tumors. The foundation is named after Christopher Court, a 7 year old boy who was diagnosed with a brain tumor on January 17th, 2011. Christopher died from his tumor on October 27th, 2011. To read more about Christopher click here.

The foundation's aim is to raise money for pediatric brain tumor research, specifically the Children's Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium and to raise awareness into the importance of tissue donation for research purposes. 

 

Facts about pediatric brain tumors

• Each year 4,150 more children—11 each day—are diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor in the U.S.¹
• 71 percent of children diagnosed with a brain tumor are younger than 15.²
• Brain tumors are the deadliest form of childhood cancer. Some tumors, such as atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors and some brain stem gliomas, have survival rates of less than 20 percent.
• Non-malignant/benign brain tumors can kill children if their location in the brain prevents surgical removal or other curative treatments.
• There are 130 different types of brain tumors, making diagnosis and treatment very difficult.³
• More than 612,000 people in the U. S. were living with a diagnosis of a primary brain or central nervous system tumor in the United States in 2004.⁴
• Approximately 28,000 children in the U.S. are living with the diagnosis of a primary brain tumor.⁵
• Pediatric brain tumors aren’t like those in adults. Children’s brain tumors require specific research and different treatments.
• Even though survival rates for some childhood brain tumors have increased over the past 30 years, survivors often suffer from lifelong side effects of treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
• Brain tumors are located in children’s control center of thought, emotion and movement, often resulting in long-term side effects. Survivors can have physical, learning and emotional challenges that will limit the quality of their lives into adulthood.
• Research that focuses specifically on pediatric brain tumors is crucial to saving children’s lives and improving survivors’ quality of life.

1. Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States (CBTRUS) Statistical Report, Feb. 2011
2. Ibid.
3. WHO Classification of Tumours of the Central Nervous System - World Health Organization . 4th Edition, 2007
4. Porter KR, McCarthy BJ, Freels S, Kim Y, Davis FG. “Prevalence Estimates for Primary Brain Tumors in the US by Age, Gender, Behavior, and Histology”, Neuro-Oncology, 12(6): 520 527, 2010.
5. Ibid.