They launch a campaign to make the DIPG visible

Cancer is today one of the main causes of infant mortality. In Spain, tumors represent the leading cause of death from disease in children and adolescents. In recent decades, medical advances have significantly improved the prognosis of many pediatric cancers, reaching survival rates of over 80%. However, research has progressed unevenly and not all tumors have received the same scientific attention.

One of the childhood tumors least addressed by research is diffuse intrinsic trunk glioma, known as DIPG. It is a childhood brain tumor that develops in the brain stem.an area of ​​the brain that regulates vital functions such as breathing, movement, speech or swallowing. It is a highly aggressive cancer and, currently, without a cure. Its location prevents surgery and limits therapeutic options, making the diagnosis one of the most lethal in pediatric oncology.

The average life expectancy after diagnosis is just eleven months and the five-year survival rate is around 1%. Although it is a rare cancer, its impact on childhood mortality is very high; DIPG is responsible for between 16 and 22% of childhood cancer deaths.

While other pediatric cancers have seen significant advances, DIPG remains practically stagnant. Research is progressing slowly, largely due to a lack of funding and public visibility. This lack of social knowledge has direct consequences, since it limits the resources destined to better understand the disease and develop effective treatments. Although there are promising lines of research, they need support and resources to be able to advance with the urgency that a disease of these characteristics demands.

‘The monster in my head’, a campaign to make the DIPG visible

With the aim of breaking this silence and placing the DIPG in the public conversation, The monster in my headan awareness campaign promoted by Blanca Borrell Foundation, United Against DIPG Association, Martín Álvarez Foundation and Vicky’s Dream.

The campaign uses a symbolic language and close to bring a complex reality closer to society, connecting with the imagination of childhood without resorting to drama or alarmism. The “monster” functions as an understandable metaphor for a disease that breaks out in childhood and deeply conditions the lives of those who suffer from it, and their families, but also as a tool to generate understanding, empathy and collective consciousness.

The beginning of The monster in my head marks the start of a campaign that will be developed progressively in the coming months. Since its launch, the initiative will have a website with all the information, which will act as a reference point for the campaign, as well as with a spot launched on YouTube, titled The monster in my head is DIPG which will seek to raise awareness of the seriousness of the disease and collect signatures for research through the voice of a girl who suffers from DIPG.

From there, the campaign will incorporate new actions aimed at expanding the social conversation, generating involvement and reinforcing the visibility of the DIPG. Among them, a street marketing action under the title ‘This monster is scarier than…’based on eye-catching posters that will include a link to the initiative’s website so that citizens can learn about the campaign and join by signing in support of the research. In parallel, a campaign will also be launched on social networks that will invite users to download and print monsters that represent the DIPG, break them creatively and share the action with the hashtag #TheMonsterOfMyHead and, for every like and comment with the hashtag, a monster will be symbolically destroyed in the campaign counter.

Likewise, the initiative will pay special attention to educational and university environmentswhere collaborations have already been launched that will allow us to continue expanding the scope of the project.

The monster in my head seeks to raise awareness among all sectors of society, such as cultural groups, schools or universities, in a simple and accessible way. Getting informed, sharing and supporting research are simple gestures that can help boost ongoing scientific projects. Making DIPG visible is the first step so that it stops being an invisible cancer and so that science has the necessary support to change its history.

The initiative also has the objective of achieving 500,000 signatures to make this disease visible and to raise funds 3 million euros in donations for research in different agreements they have with hospitals.

“The Martín Alvarez Muelas, El Sueño de Vicky, Blanca Morell and the United Association against DIPG foundations have agreements with hospitals for these investigations. These are investigations that will not only contribute to improving treatments in DIPG, but will also affect tumors of the Central Nervous System that have similar biological mechanisms. By curing DIPG we will cure many more children,” they say on the website.