September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Tomorrow, September 1, marks the beginning of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. So, for the month of September, I will be changing to color of my blog from green to gold.
Some Childhood Cancer facts (courtesy of Candlelighters acco.org)

• Every year in the US 13,400 children (ages 0-19) are diagnosed with cancer. That equates to 46 children a day.
• Another way to approach this number: 1 in 330 children will get cancer.
• Childhood cancer is the leading cause of disease related death.
• About 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer will die as a result of their cancer.
• Over 60% of those who do survive suffer moderate to severe complications, including infertility, diabetes, heart disease, and secondary cancers.
• The most common childhood cancers are leukemias, followed by brain and CNS tumors.
• The average age for a childhood cancer diagnosis is 10 years old.
• 80% of children has a metastic cancer (meaning the disease has spread and is therefore harder to treat and survive), as compared to 20% of adult cancer patients.

Now some facts about childhood cancer research and funding:

• While the NHI allocates 5.6 billion dollars to cancer research yearly, only 100 million goes to Childhood Cancer.
• The American Cancer Society uses only 1% of it's money towards pediatric cancer reasearch, while using 21% of it's funds for fundraising, and another 7% on administration.
• Over 90% of Childhood cancer drugs are adult cancer drugs that were reapproved for children. They are usually an afterthought of approval.
• This year, President Obama signed the Creating Hope Act into law, allocating additional funding to companies persuing pediatric cancer research.

Now, my plea:
A common saying in the childhood cancer world is that when a child has cancer, the entire family has cancer. This couldn't be more true. Parents, siblings, grandparents and friends are all affected. A child with cancer often misses a year or more of school, setting them back academically. They are also separated from friends and family for long periods of time. Childhood cancers are often more aggressive than adult cancers. Childhood cancers are also usually diagnosed later, as there are very few screening tests, and even fewer are availible. Syptoms os childhood cancer are also syptoms of other childhood diseases, such as headaches, bruises, frequent colds and fevers, limps and soreness, or frequent nosebleeds. These diseases (over 50 different types) are horrible. We need a cure!
What can you do to help?

• Spread awareness. Tell everybody about childhood cancer. Nobody wants to hear about dying kids. Too bad. You can't escape the reality of childhood cancer. The more people who know and are fighting for a cure, the better chance we will find one.
• Donate to a childhood cancer research organization, such as CureSearch or St. Baldricks.
• Wear Gold to support the kids.
• Volunteer your time at a pediatric hospital or with a childhood cancer group.
• Donate coloring supplies, gas/grocery cards or other day to day nessecities to families affected by childhood cancer.
• Participate in a Childhood Cancer awareness event, such as a St. Baldricks festival or a Curesearch walk.
• Learn more about childhood cancer.
• Write to your representative in government to tell them how important it is to support pediatric cancer reasearch.

Thank you for supporting childhood cancer!
learn more at these websites:

• stbaldricks.org
• curesearchwalk.org
• curesearch.org
• focwc.org
• acco.org
• peopleagainstchildhoodcancer.org