How will 'ChuckStrong' donations help?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - It's been a little more than a week since we learned Colts Coach Chuck Pagano is battling leukemia.

Since then, the phrase "Chuckstrong" has practically become a household term.

Fans have bought thousands of t-shirts to support Coach Pagano and to raise money for leukemia research.

As of Tuesday, 3,100 Chuckstrong shirts had been sold through Colts Pro Shops, bringing in $78,000 for leukemia research at IU Health Simon Cancer Center.

24-Hour News 8 went to check out the leukemia program there, to see just how your money is helping.

 “It is not just the money, it’s the thought that hard working people would want to donate their dollars to try to help us,” said Dr. Larry Cripe, with IU Health Simon Cancer Center.

With a team of six doctors attending to patients, and six to 12 researchers, doctors are studying the vulnerability of leukemia cells.

They're working to develop drugs that attack those vulnerabilities in order to treat just the leukemia, and to stop the devastating side effects of chemotherapy.

Doctors working in the leukemia program are also working to implement different yoga and music therapy programs for patients coping with leukemia, as well as determining better ways to discuss treatment and diagnosis with patients.

According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 47,000 people will be diagnosed with leukemia nationwide this year.

“The key part of these dollars, is that they're immediately available. So we can use them to ask questions that are high risk,” explained Dr. Cripe. “If you waited to put in a grant to the federal government, it would take years to get that money. So we’re very parsimonious with it; we think, what seems to be the best idea right now? We test it quickly, if not, we move on.”

Right now researchers in the leukemia program have combined three drugs, and are in the first phase of clinical research- to see if that combination helps patients.

Each study can cost thousands of dollars. Dr. Cripe says while it's difficult to put it into specifics, any donation makes a difference.

For more information on the Chuckstrong shirts, click here. For more information on IU Health, click here.

Of course, there are other programs around central Indiana doing similar research - all with the same goal.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society here in Indianapolis is having their annual fundraiser "Light the Night” this Saturday evening. Click HERE for more information on that.