By Bill Thomas | July 21st
Although she was only three years old at the time, Natalie Burraston vividly remembers the day she said goodbye to her childhood friend Alexa. She remembers the clear blue sky overhead, the black garments of the gathered mourners, and the pink fabric of the blanket draped over Alexa’s tiny coffin.
Both girls had been diagnosed with pediatric cancer at an early age–Natalie with leukemia, Alexa with neuroblastoma–and subsequently became friends during treatment. Six months after Alexa’s passing, Natalie completed chemotherapy. Now, sixteen years later, Natalie is in remission. She maintains close ties with Alexa’s family and is currently attending college, where she majors in microbiology. When she graduates, she plans to go to medical school to become a pediatric oncologist.
“I know that my experiences will give me a unique perspective in caring for patients and their families,” Natalie says. “Being a survivor myself, I will also be able to give hope to patients and families going through their own trials. I will carry Alexa’s memory with me as I study, to one day help kids like her, and like me.”
Natalie’s dream of entering the healthcare industry to help individuals impacted by childhood cancer is a noble goal. It’s also part of why she was selected to be one of this year’s recipients of the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation’s Survivor Scholarship Award.
The Survivor Scholarship is awarded annually to undergraduate and post-graduate students all across the United States. Since 2017, we have handed out nearly 527 scholarships, providing a combined total of more than $684,750 in financial aid to students that have overcome childhood cancer. In this, the Survivor Scholarship embodies the Foundation’s institutional priority of survivorship and mental health support, ensuring that children who survive cancer have the resources necessary to thrive beyond their diagnosis.
What Healthcare Industry Labor Shortages Mean for Pediatric Cancer Patients
Empowering childhood cancer survivors so that they can achieve their full potential and lead happy, healthy, productive lives isn’t the only way the Survivor Scholarship upholds Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation’s institutional priorities. It also helps us power research, accelerate cures, and transform futures by facilitating the next generation of healthcare professionals.
From bench to bedside, improving outcomes for even a single child facing pediatric cancer requires a support system of hundreds if not thousands of specialists: medical researchers to gather data and develop new treatments, clinical oncologists to diagnose patients and oversee their care plans, child psychologists to provide support for the mental health side effects of living with cancer. Doctors and nurses. Pharmacists and radiologists. Dieticians, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, and many more. The list goes on and on.
Replenishing the nation’s supply of healthcare professionals in order to meet demand is critical, especially in light of research showing an upward trend in pediatric cancer incidence rates. It has been estimated that, for every 38,000 children and young adults diagnosed with cancer, there is one pediatric oncologist. Unfortunately, it looks like the gap will grow even wider in coming years, with a recent study by global consulting firm Mercer projecting a shortage of 100,000 critical healthcare workers in the U.S. by 2028.
More pointedly, a report by Medicus Healthcare Solutions projects a shortage of 2,000 oncologists in the U.S. right now. The median age of oncologists in the U.S. is 53 years, with one in five being over the age of 64. More oncologists are exiting the healthcare industry than entering, meaning that, as the number of children and young adults diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. continues to grow, the support system they depend on is getting smaller.
Add to this the fact that only 4% of all federal funds allocated for cancer research go towards childhood cancer (and even that small amount is in constant jeopardy) and it’s easy to see why all of us here at Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation believe it’s important to support cancer survivors who are interested in pursuing careers in the healthcare field.
Building the Next Generation of Pediatric Cancer Healthcare Professionals
Natalie Burraston isn’t the first childhood cancer survivor driven to help other childhood cancer patients overcome their disease, and she won’t be the last. Indeed, one of the most inspiring things about many pediatric cancer survivors is the fact that their personal resilience is often matched by a sense of selfless compassion.
“Cancer, for all its devastation, opened my eyes to something deeper, something more urgent. My experiences, my pain, could serve a greater good. I saw the nurses, the caregivers, and something clicked,” Javin Francis, a 2025-2026 Survivor Scholarship Award recipient who plans to become a nurse practitioner, explained.
“I want to heal people, to be the one who could offer hope, the way those who cared for me had. How could I look at the world and not try to fix what’s broken? I knew then that my path wasn’t only about surviving but about using every ounce of my strength to change lives.”
It’s a sentiment that has been echoed by countless award recipients since the Survivor Scholarship was created in 2017. That so many childhood cancer survivors feel this way is a testament not just to their own altruistic natures, but to the lasting impact healthcare workers can have on the patients they treat. More than just medical industry professionals, they are caregivers in the deepest, most profound sense of the word.
“During my treatment I became close to my medical social worker, Aubrey. She has inspired me to help others through difficult health journeys,” Rebecca Noll, an award recipient whose goal is to someday become a medical social worker herself, says. “Just as I was given a second chance at life, I want to help others live their lives to the fullest and help them know they are not alone.”
If you would like to help us continue supporting childhood cancer survivors through initiatives like the Survivor Scholarship Award, please consider becoming a donor. To stay up-to-date with all the latest news shaping the future of pediatric cancer treatment, don’t forget to follow Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation’s Profectus Blog!
