cold facts

Many people do not want to associate cancer with children. It is just an unthinkable horror. It’s easy to dismiss the idea by saying, “This will never happen to my child.” Unfortunately, it happens more often than we’d like to believe. According to the National Childhood Cancer Foundation, one in every four elementary schools has a child with cancer. While many children are cured, there are still many children who will die.

It is said: When you lose your parents you are an orphan. When you lose your spouse you are a widow(er). There is no name for a parent who loses their child because it is just too unspeakable.



-There are 15 children diagnosed with cancer for every one child diagnosed with pediatric AIDS. Yet, the U.S. invests approximately $595,000 for research per victim of pediatric AIDS and only $20,000 for each victim of childhood cancer.
-The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) federal budget was $4.6 billion. Of that, breast cancer received 12%, prostate cancer received 7%, and all 12 major groups of pediatric cancers combined received less than 3%.
-Cancer kills more children than any other disease, more than Asthma, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes and Pediatric AIDS combined.
-Sadly, over 2,300 children with cancer die each year.
-Every school day 46 children are diagnosed.
-1 in 330 children will have the disease by age 20.
-Cancers in very young children are highly aggressive and behave unlike malignant diseases at other times in life.
-80% of children have metastasized cancer at the time of their diagnosis. At diagnosis, only 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread or metastasized.
-Detecting childhood cancers at an early stage, when the disease would react more favorably to treatment, is extremely difficult.
-Cancer symptoms in children – fever, swollen glands, anemia, bruises and infection – are often suspected to be, and at the early stages are treated as, other childhood illnesses.
-Even with insurance coverage, a family will have out-of pocket expenses of about $40,000 per year, not including travel.
-Treatment can continue for several years, depending on the type of cancer and the type of therapy given.