24 Nov 2015

OPEN YOUR HEART. OPEN THE DOOR

• First Citizens Bank is joining together with nonprofit Teen Cancer America (TCA) and The Who’s Roger Daltrey to help open the door to better cancer care for young adults.

The bank announced a major sponsorship of TCA designed to increase awareness and support for targeted care and specialized treatment facilities for teens and young adults with cancer. First Citizens Bank is the official Southeastern U.S. corporate sponsor of TCA.

First Citizens Bank is helping TCA Open The Door to teen cancer centers across the U.S. by providing resources, opportunity, and support to bridge the gap for young people with cancer between the adult and pediatric wards. TCA’s goal is to provide teenagers and young adults with both the finest cancer treatment and also opportunities for their futures.

As part of this effort, Roger Daltrey, lead singer of the classic rock band, The Who, has recorded a new version of the 1980 Pete Townshend hit, “Let My Love Open The Door,” exclusively for First Citizens and TCA. Daltrey’s song is featured in new television and radio commercials produced by First Citizens that began airing Thanksgiving week 2015 in the bank’s North and South Carolina markets.

Helping introduce Teen Cancer America in its markets makes sense for First Citizens:

• The bank has long history of giving back to the towns and cities where it does business – it’s part of our Forever First promise.
• First Citizens specializes in working with hospitals and medical practices.
• As America’s largest family-controlled bank, First Citizens understands the significance of family ties – and the families who bank with the company are an important focus.

• First Citizens’ significant financial commitment to TCA includes contributions to the nonprofit and to hospitals in key markets that agree to establish TCA units.This support is in addition to the advertising in North and South Carolina and social media, marketing and public relations across the bank’s 18-state franchise. First Citizens’ “Let My Love Open The Door” effort with TCA marks the bank’s largest overall corporate philanthropic initiative.

Almost 11,000 young people between the ages of 13 and 25 are diagnosed with cancer each year – that’s more than 30 every day, more than one every hour

TCA works with hospitals and cancer centers to create treatment programs and recovery spaces for teens with cancer. Every year, almost 11,000 young people between the ages of 13 and 25 are diagnosed with the disease and often receive their care at units designed for either adults or children. First Citizens is working with TCA to fill the space between and help give teens a place where they feel they belong — by raising awareness, increasing support and seeking to open new teen cancer facilities.

First Citizens Bank has a proud, long history of giving back to its local communities and the partnership with Teen Cancer America will continue that tradition by helping bring the nonprofit organization and its offerings to teens into cancer centers and hospitals in the markets it serves.

Teen Cancer America works to help hospitals and healthcare professionals bridge the gap between pediatric and adult oncology care. TCA aims to educate and support hospitals and outpatient facilities in the development of specialized units for this age group. The units are places just for teens and young adults where the cancer experience is understood and the importance of living life through the cancer journey is nourished. TCA’s work also supports the coming together of physicians and allied healthcare professionals in both pediatric and adult oncology so that the teen and young adult cancer patient care becomes closer to where it needs to be.

Teen Cancer Statistics

• Almost 11,000 young people between the ages of 13 and 25 are diagnosed with cancereach year – that is more than 30 every day, more than one every hour.

Teens and young adults fall into a sort of “no man’s land” when it comes to treatment; they are not really children, but should not be classified as adults, either. Seventeen year olds present a different challenge all together, and have completely different emotional and social needs than toddlers in pediatric wards or seniors in adult centers.

Results for some cancers affecting young people have not improved in over 30 years.

In 2014, it was estimated that 16,000 new cases of cancer would be diagnosed among children 19 years of age and younger in the United States. Of those 16,000 new cases, about 2,000 would die from the disease. *

While pediatric cancer death rates have declined by more than 50 percent during the past five decades, cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among children and adolescents.

*Report by Cancer.gov