10/01/2021
hello families! Today marks the last day of September, which means the last day of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Two weeks ago, I was invited to an event put on by The Gold Rush Cure Foundation to promote pen pal! This was one of my first events I have been invited to since starting my project. I was honored to be invited and experienced so many kind and amazing people donating money to Childhood Cancer Families and Gold Rush Cure. I brought my best friend with me and this opportunity made us reflect on how blessed we are and how devestating Cancer is to kids and their families.
The reality is that I have only known one child in my life that has had Cancer and survived. But, this isnโt the case for everyone. Someoneโs daughter, son, niece, nephew, friend, granddaughter or grandson may be facing childhood cancer right now. Every year, over 16,000 children in the US and 300,000 globally are diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease in children in this country. For those who donโt personally know a child diagnosed with cancer, we treat it like itโs rare but once again this is not the case.
This was my first Childhood Cancer Awareness Month under my new project. This month, I really wanted to listen. I read the devastating and heartbreaking stories, facts and the reality that Childhood Cancer Patients face everyday. I listened to the fact that only 4% of the billions of dollars the government spends annually on cancer research is directed towards treating childhood cancer. Or that more than 95% of childhood cancer survivors have significant health-related issues because of the current treatment options. Or that nearly 60% of childhood cancer survivors experience severe or life-threatening complications in adulthood. 43 kids are expected to be diagnosed with cancer per day and itโs the leading cause of death among children yet only 4% is spent on finding a cure or better treatment. Itโs devastating.
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