Malia's CORD Foundation provides $160,000 research grant

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mary Bell
August 21, 2006 859-331-4602 or mtns49@aol.com
Malia’s CORD Foundation Provides $160,000 Research Grant to
Charles P. Darby Children’s Research Institute
at the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital

Northern Kentucky – Malia’s CORD Foundation, a local non-profit organization dedicated to
finding a cure for pediatric spinal cord tumors, has provided the Charles P. Darby Children’s
Research Institute at the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital (MUSC) with
a $160,000 medical research grant. This grant will be used to support the research of pediatric
neurologist Bernard Maria, M.D., and biochemist Bryan Toole, M.D., at MUSC.

Through their research, Drs. Maria and Toole are studying glioma cells, which are highly
resistant to radiation and chemotherapy, and are responsible for the recurrence and spread of
spinal cord gliomas, or tumors. Dr. Toole has found that these cells release a substance called
hyaluronan, which enhances the process by which the glial cells become malignant, or cancerous.
The research investigates how these glial stem-like cells become resistant to drugs and whether
naturally occurring chemicals (hyaluronan inhibitors) can effectively counter this process,
preventing the production of additional malignant tumor cells.

“Malia’s CORD Foundation continues to look for new and promising areas of research that may
lead to a cure for pediatric spinal cord tumors,” says Dan Heck, co-founder of Malia’s CORD
Foundation. “Each line of research we can support is a ray of hope in the pursuit of that bright
day when spinal cord tumors no longer claim the lives of children. We hope and believe that the
ground-breaking research of Drs. Maria and Toole will soon prove to be life-saving.”

MUSC is the second medical research team that Malia’s CORD Foundation has chosen to
financially support. Since 2004, the CORD Foundation has also supported the clinical research of
George Jallo, M.D., assistant professor of pediatric neurosurgery and oncology at Johns Hopkins
University College of Medicine in Baltimore. Malia’s CORD Foundation has committed
$375,000 over three years to support Dr. Jallo’s pediatric spinal cord research.

Malia’s CORD Foundation, established in 2004, is named for Malia Heck, a six-year-old girl
from Hebron, KY. Heck was diagnosed with a rare spinal cord tumor in 2002. She has undergone
two surgeries in attempts to remove as much of the tumor as possible and has received
chemotherapy treatments in an effort to prevent further spread of the tumor. She is currently
doing well and is in the first grade. Her friends and family members formed Malia’s CORD (Cure
for Others through Research and Development) Foundation to fund research to help find a cure
for all children with spinal cord tumors.