About the Drew Barker-Wright Charity

The Drew Barker-Wright Charity is a small but focused charity, supporting families affected by paediatric chordoma, an ultra-rare form of soft tissue and bone cancer affecting children. We also fund research into the disease, looking at the causes and better ways of treating this devastating disease.

We have no paid staff and rely on volunteers to provide support and fundraise for us – we have no administration costs, salaries or office facilities meaning every penny goes directly into the services and research we fund.

Why is raising money for rare childhood cancers so important?

Currently only £3 in every £100 spent on cancer research in the UK goes to childhood cancer, let alone rare childhood cancers. Children are habitually used to front advertising campaigns but, the reality is that less than 4% of the national expenditure is given to the children’s sector.

To this day, children are generally treated with adult cancer drugs, many of which were developed decades ago. One of the newest drugs many children with solid tumours are treated with is over 30 years old, it’s called Ifosfamide – FDA approved in 1987.

Other chemo drugs routinely used on children and their approval dates include Mercaptopurine (1953) Methotrexate (1959) Vincristine (1963) Actinomycin D (1964) and Doxoribicin (1974).

All of these drugs were developed in the first instance for adults, not children.

In fact only 4 drugs have ever been developed and approved specifically targeting children’s cancers.

Adult cancers have progress and continue to evolve. Children need the same. They need kinder, targeted therapies, and up to date treatments, developed and approved just for them.

We need to do better, our children deserve more…….

We set up The Drew Barker-Wright Charity as a legacy to our little boy. We are passionate about funding specific projects to help progress paediatric chordoma research, to improve the chance of survival for other children and their families. We choose the projects we invest in with great care and our charity is run on a purely voluntary basis, which means every penny we raise goes directly to the cause.

Help us make a difference. Together, it’s the only way.