Helping kids with brain cancer

TAMPA - A Bay Area doctor was honored Thursday with a $50,000 scholarship for his efforts to treat brain cancer in children.

Pediatric oncologist Dr. Tung Wynn received his award from Hyundai Motor America.

Wynn and his colleagues are working on what would be the basis of a non-invasive treatment for children with a common form of brain cancer

One of Wynn's colleagues said the therapy they are working on would help kids avoid chemotherapy.

"If it turns out to be an innovative therapy, it will be able to help children actually get regression of their tumors within the brain areas, without having to give them surgical techniques or chemo," said Dr. Michael Lawman.

Lawman says the money will help them add research staff.

"It allows us to bring in people that are medically trained to the research lab," Lawman said.

The treatment is years away from clinical trial, and there's a possibility it may never work.

But even a slight chance of success will change the lives of many families around the world, because the treatment would shut down the tumor and the cancer threat. For patients like Connor Hernandez, it may mean a second chance at life.

The 11-year-old has been fighting cancer for seven years, and chemotherapy is shutting down his organs.

"We're battling kidney failure and liver failure and all of the effects of that," said Connor's mom, Tracy Hernandez. "It's been a long road. It's been a hard road. But it's been an amazing road at the same time."

Hernandez hopes the research is fruitful, for Connor's sake, and for every other child in his situation.

"No parent of a child should have to hear that word, hat their child has cancer," said Tracy, "and our goal is to stop that."

The money Dr. Wynn received comes from a fund set up by Hyundai where $5 from every new car they sell goes into "Hope on Wheels," a program to support doctors engaged in childhood cancer research.