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Elkins Park, PA 19027

A RESOLUTION

Designating the month of April 2005 as "Neuroblastoma Month” in Pennsylvania.

WHEREAS, In the United States, cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children under 15 years of age; and

WHEARAS, cancer killed approximately 1,500 children in the United States in 2001; and

WHEREAS, neuroblastoma is an extremely malignant and treatment-resistant form of childhood cancer involving tumors of the sympathetic nervous system; and

WHEREAS, Neuroblastoma is often not diagnosed until late in its progression; and

WHEREAS, Susanna DeLaurentis of Elkins Park, Montgomery County, was a victim of this disease and was not expected to survive the eight months of aggressive treatment, much of it experimental; and

 WHEREAS, Children with neuroblastoma may go through multiple rounds of high-dose intensive chemotherapy, followed by surgery, local and total-body radiation, and finally an autologous bone marrow transplant; and

WHEREAS, Susanna was placed in a full-body cast, isolated behind a lead barrier in a specially isolated room and injected with an experimental radioactive chemical to seek and destroy any malignancy that may have survived the other treatments; and            

WHEREAS, AI though Susanna's remarkable recovery and subsequent five symptom-free years were quite unexpected and were an enduring inspiration to peer6 and professionals alike,

Susanna's symptoms returned when she was eight years old; and          

WHEREAS, Susanna underwent another setof intensive treatments but, despite her successful initial response to treatment, relapsed and died at ten years of age on November 27.

WHEREAS, The Susanna DeLaurentis Charitable Foundation was established to raise funds to support primary research into the causes and possible cure or treatment of neuroblastoma. and cystic fibrosis, the most common fatal inherited disease in North America, which affects one in every 3,900 American newborns; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate the month of April 2005 as “Neuroblastoma Month” in Pennsylvania in memory of Susanna DeLaurentis and all victims of this disease.