SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Childhood Cancer Statistics

• Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease for children and adolescents, killing more children than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and AIDS/HIV combined.
  
• Every day, in the United States 46 children-two classrooms of kids-are diagnosed with cancer.
  
• Each year over 12,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. alone and over 3000 will die from it.
  
• The incidence of childhood cancer in this country is rising almost 1% a year. During the past 20 years, the incidence of cancer among children has increased almost 20%.
  
• One in every 330 Americans will develop cancer before the age of 20.
  
• Childhood cancer spares no one, it hits Caucasian, African-American and Hispanic children of any socioeconomic background.
• The median age when adults get cancer is 67; the median age for children is 6.
  
• More than 40,000 children are currently being treated in the U.S.

 

AND did you know...

• The National Cancer Institute's federal budget=$4.6 billion. Pediatric cancers received less than 3% of it.
• Overall, one out of every five children diagnosed with cancer dies. In some forms of cancer, as few as one out of every five children will live.
• Childhood Cancers are cancers that primarily affect children, teens, and young adults.
• Approximately 20% of adults with cancer show evidence the disease has spread, yet nearly 80% of children show that the cancer has spread to distant sites at the time of diagnosis.
• The cause of most childhood cancers are unknown and at present, cannot be prevented. (Most adult cancers result from lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, occupation, and other exposure to cancer-causing agents).
• Nationally, childhood cancer is 20 times more prevalent than pediatric AIDS yet pediatric AIDS receives four times the funding that childhood cancer receives.

A diagnosis of childhood cancer can turn the lives of a family upside down - days suddenly filled with alternating moments of courage, frustration, anxiety and pain. The objective of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is to put a spotlight on the types of cancer that affect children, survivorship issues, and - importantly - to help us raise funds so that

The Ashley Lauren Foundation can continue to make a difference in the lives of these children that do not deserve to suffer. 

 

 

We honor those children that have lost their battle and those children that have survived.

 Please join us and make a difference!