Meet Doctor Greg Aune, San Antonio, Texas

The Aune family in Switzerland after Greg’s talk at the World Health Organization. Front row: Emma, Noah, Sophia and Eli. Back row: Jane, Christy, Greg and John Aune.

Dr. Greg Aune, who grew up in Colfax, and his group held their fifth St. Baldrick’s Foundation event Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. Placed in an outdoor venue, it ran from noon to 5 p.m. with 100 people shaving heads. Food trucks, head shaving and a goal of $175,000 this year made this a Texas-size event. Dr. Aune’s handsome head of green hair (St. Patrick’s, of course) was shorn during the fundraiser.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a charity which collects money for childhood cancer research and then dispenses grants to researchers and care providers. Dr. Aune received an infrastructure grant in 2012 for items needed for better care for cancer survivors. In 2014, Aune received a Scholar Award, which is a career development award for researchers, to develop in areas not funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH.) The award is for three years with another two years possible. The grant is $330,000 for three years.

Pediatric cancer research grants are very competitive, as there is less money out there than for adult cancers. St. Baldrick’s supports younger investigators who are researching childhood cancers. There are talks now between the NIH and St. Baldrick’s concerning efforts on childhood cancer.

Greg is serving on the NIH Council of Research Advocates, which includes scientists and non-profits, advising the NIH on issues of concern to patients and their families. This board is composed of people interested in all kinds of cancer. The next big meeting is on the “Cancer Moon Shot” announced by President Obama, which will be led by Vice President Biden. If childhood cancer is getting this sort of attention, there is hope that more research support is coming.

The genetics of cancer is a new, important area of research. Immunotherapy is leading to interesting therapies.

“Big improvements are occurring in childhood oncology. It takes decades, but advances in harnessing immune systems - that’s exciting,” Aune noted.

Some treatments are decades old, and new approaches are needed. A few new treatments reflect change and are great improvements. Eighty percent of cancers are curable, and 20 percent are really hard, less understood, with fewer well-known treatments.

One new therapy is immunotherapy, using the body’s immune system to suppress cancer. This targets the actual tumor or lymphoma. Newer medications are given to turn up the patient’s immune system. Then immune cells are removed from the patient, engineered in the lab and injected back into the patient. With this treatment, the patient’s own immune system can fight the cancer more effectively.

Survivor rates for cancer patients were 10 percent in 1947. Now they are about 80 percent. Leukemia, the most common cancer in children, in some types is 95 percent curable. The number two cause of cancer death in children is relapsed AOL leukemia. Brain cancer is the most difficult cancer to treat successfully. In each subset of cancer, there are patients whose disease is more difficult to treat.

What is glossed over, said Dr. Aune, is the quality of life for survivors. Treatments need to be improved. Childhood cancers are biologically different than adult cancers, but most drugs are developed for adults and are not well-suited to children in many cases. The difference in development is especially stark when comparing the 57 new cancer drugs for adults in the last few years contrasted with three new drugs for childhood cancer.

St. Baldrick’s is most involved in funding research which needs to be done for pediatric patients. The non-profit is also having an impact on federal law, seeking to spur more development of medication for children. This lack of research and small array of childhood cancer drugs is especially frustrating for patients and their families.

"Childhood cancer is actually fairly rare, but we fight an uphill battle for awareness,” Greg said. That awareness affects research which will lead to new treatments and medications.

Many childhood cancer survivors are drawn to medical care for cancer patients. It is hard to survive childhood cancer and not have some powerful motivation. In addition, there will be more survivors in the future, and the medical community and the general public need to be aware of their needs.

There are times when Greg would like to get away from the fact that he survived childhood cancer, but he feels really called. His survival also gives hope to his patients and their families. He has just recently come to understand this.

The Aune family went to Switzerland last May when a contact invited him to raise awareness of childhood cancer at the World Health Organization. Medical people are trying to get WHO to give childhood cancer status as a worldwide problem. Dr. Aune spoke at the World Health Assembly in front of the head of non-communicable diseases for WHO in Geneva. The goal is a resolution for childhood cancer.

Smaller countries have problems of access to care, medications and treatments for childhood cancer patients since resources are so limited. Political issues may prevent care being available. Worldwide, 250,000 children have cancer. There is a large movement to improve equity of treatment around the world.

The Aunes are enjoying the warm weather in San Antonio, knowing that it will not be as pleasant in summer, when Colfax weather feels much more comfortable. Greg, Christy, Noah, Emma, Eli and Sophia are coming to Colfax in August to celebrate his father’s birthday.

Dr. Christy Aune is a neonatologist who works in a large practice and she is medical director of a neonatal intensive care unit. A commissioned Army officer, she attended medical school, did her Army residency and then served in a faculty position for five years. When she left the Army, she began private practice.

Dr. Greg Aune went to Houston for a medical school-PhD program which lasted seven years. He has a pediatric oncology (childhood cancer treatment) practice and is also a cancer researcher.

Colfax residents who attend the St. Baldrick’s event here will see a video which Dr. Aune is sending. He encourages everyone to donate to St. Baldrick’s in Colfax this year, as it is the number one source of funding for cancer research outside of the government. People in the Colfax area are particularly aware with the illness and recent passing of Konnor Stirling, a Colfax eighth grader.