Childhood Cancer: Updated Numbers

 

I love a good infographic and this one from Alex's Lemonade Stand is excellent and up to date. The header of the page on the website states that 47 children are diagnosed with cancer daily, which is up from the last statistic I had of 33 per day. The site links to the sources for these numbers. From the United States' fact section:

• Each day, 47 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States, which means more than 17,000 children in the U.S. are diagnosed each year.
• Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in American children, resulting in the death of approximately 1,800 kids each year.
• As of 2018, there are approximately 483,000 survivors of childhood cancer in the U.S. This number is projected to grow to more than 500,000 in 2020.
• In the United States, 84% of children diagnosed with cancer are alive at least five years after diagnosis; however this does not mean they are cured or free from long-term side effects.
• Even those who are cured may suffer long-term side effects as a result of the cancer treatments they received. Children who were treated for cancer are twice as likely to suffer chronic health conditions later in life versus children without a history of cancer.

Without funding from private and nonprofit organizations like Alex's Lemonade Stand, childhood cancer research has a big barrier: underfunding from the government. Only about 4% of the National Cancer Institute's funding goes to childhood cancer research (x). Large all-ages cancer organizations spend similarly, or less, like the American Cancer Society (x). This is why it's so important to support grassroots and childhood cancer-specific organizations like CureSearch, St Baldricks, and more.