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Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) is the commonest childhood cancer and is reported to have 80% cure rate in developed countries. The treatment success requires well designed treatment protocol and groups of experienced paediatric oncologists. Before 2000, many hospitals in Guangzhou were treating leukaemia children without standard protocol. Even in the same hospital, different doctors might be using different treatment protocols for the same disease. The number of patients treated with a particular protocol was usually small, and thus it was difficult to evaluate the treatment result of any protocols.

Since 1997, The Lady Pao Children’s Cancer Centre (CCC) of Prince of Wales Hospital and the Department of Paediatrics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have been establishing close collaboration with various hospitals in mainland China. About 74 doctors and nurses had received training in the CCC and gained experience on the management of childhood cancer including the western treatment protocols. Among them, 18 were from Guangdong Province. With this background, the paediatric oncologists in Guangzhou understood the importance of setting up a collaborative study group for treatment of childhood cancer in mainland China, which has shown to be a very important milestone for the advances in research and treatment of childhood cancer in many developed countries. The CCC has taken the leading role in conducting collaborative studies of childhood cancer in Hong Kong and also in larger multi-national studies.

With great experience in clinical research in childhood cancer and also excellent laboratory support from other departments including the Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, CUHK researchers decided to help the clinical research studies in childhood leukaemia in mainland China. Guangzhou is the first target as it is geographically and culturally close to Hong Kong. The Guangzhou Childhood Leukaemia Study Group was established in 2002 with 7 hospitals joining, and CCC served as the medical advisor to the Group. The advice include protocol design, data collection, medical management and laboratory diagnosis of troublesome cases, and also analysis of treatment result. In the past 5 years, about 400 patients were recruited into the Guangzhou Childhood ALL 2002 Study, the first large multicentre childhood leukaemia study in mainland China. The 5 year survival is now approaching 80% and it shows marked improvement as compared to historical results. This approach serves as a model for subsequent studies in Guangdong and also to the whole country.

The newly-started 2008 ALL study in Guangdong is now extended to other cities such as Shenzhen, and CCC continued to be the medical advisor of the study. Besides, CCC is further engaged in a much bigger collaborative study in the country which involves more than 10 hospitals from different provinces and cities, and is going to recruit more than 1,000 patients in the coming 3 years. With continuous effort in the past 10 years, there is a progressive improvement in the research and treatment of childhood cancer in the country.

With the support from the Department of Paediatrics of CUHK, the Little Life Warrior Society was established in 2002 by a group of volunteers who care about the cancer children. To celebrate its 5th anniversary, the Society cooperates with hospitals and parents’ organizations in mainland China to organize a writing competition. Over 100 entries from 21 hospitals and medical units were received, among which many are considered of good quality. The Society has complied 35 awarded entries in a Special Issue, the first publication on the true stories about child cancer patients and their cure from over 10 cities in mainland China. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be contributed to the Society’s “China outreach” programme to support childhood cancer mutual aid organizations on the mainland.