'Stand Up To Cancer' telethon on 6abc

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The stars were shining bright on Friday night, putting the spotlight on cancer during the "Stand Up To Cancer" telethon on 6abc.

Hollywood's best came together to help fight cancer and the impact could be felt right here in the Delaware Valley.

For Brooke and Amy Mulford, hospitals are like home - almost too much like home.

For five of her nine years, Brooke has been in and out of them, fighting neuroblastoma - a cancer that develops from nerve cells.

Dr. John Marris of Children's Hospital explains, "When the cancer was first diagnosed, it was throughout her body."

16 months of intensive chemotherapy put the cancer into remission for three years. But then a mass showed up on a routine scan.

Amy Mulford, Brooke's mother, says, "I saw it myself before any of the doctors. It was back, and I knew what that meant."

Dr. Maris tells us, "When childhood cancer comes back, we don't have a foolproof plan."

Since then, she'd had various treatment. However, none have stopped the neuroblastoma.

But with a $14 million grant from Stand Up to Cancer, Dr. John Maris is working on new ones. His research Dream Team is trying to marry the knowledge of cancer genetics with the body's own disease-fighting powers.

"Why does this foreign thing, cancer, evade the immune system? evade the body's own ability to attack and destroy? And retraining the body how to - that is the goal of our project," Dr. Maris said.

There's been groundbreaking success at Children's Hospital in fighting leukemia with immune therapy. The Maris team wants to do the same with neuroblastoma.

Dr. Margaret Foti of the American Association for Cancer Research says Stand Up to Cancer has raised $260 million, which is helping turn the promise of approaches like immunotherapy into reality.

"We're using it now in organ sites that we never thought it could be used effectively before," Dr. Foti said.

Stand Up to Cancer also funds a local Dream Team, which is having success with new treatments for pancreatic cancer. As government research funding dries up, private sources like this play a bigger role in medicine than ever.

Friday night's show featured musical performances from The Who, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, and the Dave Matthews Band.