September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
Being a mom of a child diagnosed with cancer I didn't want to let the month slip away without bringing some awarness.
I found this neat article written by Helen Jonsen on September 12, 2008.
Childhood Cancer Facts
Today, despite amazing research progress Cancer is still the number one killer of children by disease. It is the second leading cause of all childhood deaths exceeded only by accidents.
Each year over 12,400 children are diagnosed with cancer
One in 330 children will develop cancer before the age of 20.
On average, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer every day in the United States.
3 of 5 survivors will develop another cancer, chronic or life threatening illness before they are adults. (this one really scares me.)
Every year cancer kills 3000 children more than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, and pediatric AIDS combined.
Only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread to distant sites on the body at diagnosis yet 80% of children are diagnosed with advanced disease.
In the past 20 years only one new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use.
The incidence of childhood cancer is increasing. The cause of this is unknown.
Pediatric funding is nominal in comparison to other more publicized diseases such as pediatric AIDS, juvenile diabetes, or adult cancers.
Only 3 % of the budget from the National Cancer Institute goes towards Pediatric Cancer research. (That's 3 % for ALL kinds of Pediatric Cancers combined!)
The cause of most childhood cancers in unknown.
Approximately 70% of children with cancer participate in research trials compared to only 3% of adult cancer patients. As a result, many of the advances in adult cancer treatments are due to breakthroughs in childhood cancer research.
The government recently CUT the budget for Childhood Cancer research.
As a nation, we spend $14 BILLION per year on the space program, but only $35 MILLION on childhood cancer research per year.
The symbol for childhood cancer is the gold ribbon.Please help increase the awareness of childhood cancer. Childhood cancer needs more funding and better treatment options.
Many children will have to deal with the permanent side effect of cancer treatment for the rest of their life, and way to many parents suffer the tragic loss of their precious children to cancer.
As a mom of little Payton there is nothing I wouldn't do to give him a chance at life.
Please join us this September in acknowledging not just Payton but all these kids for their braveness and courage.
If you get a chance follow the link below to advocate for increased funding for pediatric cancer.
To the world you may be one person
But to one person
You may be the world!
2 comments:
Some sobering and startling facts- such a nominal $ amount. Truly a crime.
Thanks for the information and the link.
Oh, that's so interesting! Thanks for the info and for opening my eyes to something that otherwise would probably not have been on my radar. You guys are such great examples!
Post a Comment