Ringling Bros. Donates $10,000 to Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey announced it is donating $10,000 to the Jeff Gordon’s Children’s Foundation. The foundation will use the money to support pediatric cancer research at Carolinas HealthCare System’s Levine Children’s Hospital.

On Jan. 28, Time Warner Cable Arena and Ringling Bros. brought performers directly to Levine Children’s Hospital for a special performance catered to families who couldn’t normally make it to the show.

That evening, pediatric oncologist Dr. Joshua Shiffman, who is studying DNA from elephants at the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephants Conservation and comparing it to his patients currently diagnosed with cancer, discussed his research. Shiffman and a team of researchers are studying why there is such a low incidence of cancer in elephants, what makes this cancer resistance possible in elephants and not in humans, and how this may correlate to new treatments for pediatric cancers.