Seven Facts about Childhood Cancer

 Childhood cancer awareness is something we're all passionate about, and it doesn't stop on September 30. Check out these facts from the Children's Cancer Research Fund about childhood cancer:

• Cancer remains the most common cause of death by disease among children in the US - We still don't know how to prevent cancer, and since we can't entirely prevent it or cure it, childhood cancer remains the leading cause of disease by death in the US.
  
• 1 in 7 children diagnosed with cancer in the US will not survive, and for many that do, the battle is never over - The past few decades have seen huge improvements in survival rates, but they're not where we need them to be.
•  Childhood cancer is harder to research because there's so many variations - It's not one disease, it's hundreds, and each type and subtype is different enough to need different research and funding.
• New drugs for childhood cancer don't even reach pediatric research for an average of 6.5 years after research in adults - Many drugs need to be tested in adults first, delaying their application to childhood cancer.
  
• There are only 6 drugs that treat childhood cancer that were designed specifically for childhood cancer. Other drugs were first developed for adults - This limits the amount of drugs developed specifically for the needs of children, which are different than adults.
  
• Up to 1 in 3 childhood cancer survivors struggle with cognitive symptoms.
• Over half of all childhood cancer research funding comes from foundations, not the government - Donor support makes a huge difference in giving kids a chance.