05 Sep Going Gold for Childhood Cancer

September kicks off childhood cancer awareness month. If you are a new visitor, you might be wondering why I am advocating for childhood cancer. I wish I didn’t have to. I wish I knew nothing about the facts of childhood cancer, but in March 2014 just 15 days after being diagnosed with brain cancer, my 2.5 year old nephew passed away. Unfortunately for our family, Kai had one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, AT/RT, which has a 10% survival rate.

Because of his story, it is important to me to spread the word and bring awareness to the topic. Trust me, just as no family ever thinks this will happen to them, our family didn’t either. But it did. And, because it did, I want to let you know some facts:

• Childhood cancer is the leading cause of deaths by disease among children.
• This year, 15,000 children in the United States from the age of 0 to 19 will be diagnosed with cancer and 2,000 will pass away from cancer.
• Every day, 43 children will be diagnosed with cancer.
• The average age of children diagnosed is six.
• One out of every 300 males and one out of every 330 females will develop cancer before their 20th birthday.
• 40,000 children receive treatment each year for cancer.
• 20% of children will die from the disease itself, complications with treatment, or a secondary cancer.
• 96% of the Federal funding for research is for adult cancers, leaving less than 4% for childhood cancer, even though children make up 20% of the cancer population.

If you want to make a difference in these little ones lives, please consider sharing and advocating. Join me in going gold for the month of September and spreading awareness about childhood cancer.

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