National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

For those of you who know me, childhood cancer has become a topic very near and dear to my heart. I know and have grown to know many people who have had their lives turned upside-down by this terrible disease and that is why I feel compelled to get the word out about National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Many people don't even know that Childhood Cancer exists, let alone that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Many also do not know that GOLD is the designated color for Childhood Cancer ribbons, but they are often mistaken for the yellow ribbons used to show support for our Troops. I heard somewhere that it took 10 years to get the word out about Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but now you see pink ribbons everywhere and numerous media expose' on breast cancer during the month of October. I would love it if we could do the same for National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month...these children may not have 10 years, and I am determined to do my part to get the word out!

Did you know that:

Cancer is the #1 killer disease of our children today, killing more kids than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, and pediatric AIDS combined.

Childhood cancer occurs regularly, randomly and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region.

In the United States, the incidence of cancer among adolescents and young adults is increasing at a greater rate than any other age group, except those over 65 years.

Each year 12,500 children in this country are diagnosed with cancer. That’s 46 kids every school day! 1 in 5 of those kids (7 each day) will die.

1 in 330 children will develop cancer by the age of 20.

Right now over 40,000 children are in treatment, fighting for their lives.

Although the 5 year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children diagnosed with cancer will die 5 years from the time of diagnosis.

80% of children have metastatic disease (cancer that has spread to other organs or other parts of the body) at the time of diagnosis as compared to 20% of adults.

There are currently more than 270,000 childhood cancer survivors in the U.S. Due to lack of funding for research into childhood cancer, the treatments for children are often times simply “down-sized” adult doses. As a result, 60% of the survivors of childhood cancer develop secondary cancers, infertility, major organ damage, developmental problems, hearing and vision loss and many other issues. Our kids deserve better.

Please continue to pray for all the people out there who are fighting, those who have fought and those who are survivors of pediatric cancer. If you feel compelled to become more involved with helping children and their families affected by this ugly illness and to ultimately find a cure, here are just a few of the things you can do to make a difference:

Make a donation to an organization that gives, and truly makes a difference, to these families:
Make-A-Wish, Caringbridge, Hope Kids, KidsCan, Cure Search, Jake Owen Raborn Foundation, Cole's Foundation and Miracles of Mitch just to name a few. These are all organizations that rely on donations to help families enduring serious illnesses'.

Give Blood - Save a Life. Everyday children and adults are in dire need of blood products to help them along during their illness/treatment. This is one of the easiest gifts you'll ever give and at no cost to you.

Become a Chemo Angel - A volunteer opportunity that allows you to bring a little cheer and encouragement to those undergoing cancer treatments, through little notes, cards and occasional small gifts.

Donate new, unopened toys to your local hospital. As a child, it's tough enough being away from your home and family during treatment. By donating toys, games, video games, movies and books to your local hospital, you will undoubtedly bring a smile to a suffering child's face in their time of need. For your convenience, here is the link to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis but ALL hospitals can use, and would greatly appreciate, these donations. http://www.childrensmn.org/web/givingtochildren/095364.asp

Make a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The only way to find a cure is through research and St. Jude has made it their mission to do just that.

There are many things that you can do to help and I simply can not list them all. There are some that take time, there are some that take money, there are some just simply take you. Please do what you can. You can make a world of difference to the children and families that are fighting this terrible disease.

If you read all of the way to the end of this, THANK YOU for taking the time and for caring.

Good night and God Bless.