Our History

It is hard to believe that it has been 40 years since Leukemia, Research, Life, Inc. (LRL) was created by a group of young parents who all had at least three things in common: they all had children who were fighting cancer; all of them were being treated at Children’s Hospital of Michigan; and only 50% of those children would survive.

That’s right. Back in 1981 the survival rate for most pediatric cancers was only about 50%. Since that time this organization has raised and donated in excess of $4.75 million dollars to the researchers at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and their affiliates Wayne State University and the Karmanos Cancer Institute. LRL is very proud to have supported research knowing that over 75% of the children diagnosed with cancer today will survive. We would like to thank all of those heroic individuals that have worked so tirelessly to get us through the first 34 years. Without them we would not have been successful!

In November, 2011 we officially changed the name of the organization to Kids Without Cancer. The decision to change the name was made for two reasons: First, it was felt that our original name may have been limiting us and leading people to believe we were focused only on leukemia research. The fact is that this organization funds research into all pediatric cancers. Additionally, we felt that the new name better communicated our Vision which is to create a world of Kids Without Cancer.

Our name may have changed but the organization’s mission has not. Our mission is to eradicate childhood cancer by funding the cutting-edge research being done at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in conjunction with the Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University.