Cancer in infants, children, teenagers and young adults is more common than most people realize and statistics are very troubling.

Did you know that…

• In the United States, cancer is the number 1 killer of children by disease.

• Each year, about 3,000 children die from Cancer – more than from Asthma, Diabetes, Cystic Fibrosis, Congenital Anomalies, and Pediatric AIDS combined.

• Currently, one in every 330 Americans develops cancer during childhood or adolescence, before the age of 20. On the average, 46 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every weekday in the United States.

• Nationally, the incidence of cancer in children is more than 20 times greater than the incidence of AIDS in children.

• Pediatric cancer funding is nominal in comparison to other more publicized diseases, such as pediatric AIDS or juvenile diabetes, which increase in awareness each year.

• Awareness of much needed funding for Pediatric Cancer is virtually absent from the public eye due to lack of media attention. For example, the funding for pediatric AIDS is four times greater than the funding for pediatric cancer, yet in comparison, twice as many children die of cancer in one month as do die of AIDS in one year.

• The cases of pediatric cancer are increasing at a rate of 1% every year, while funding for research continues to be minimal.

• Cancer during adolescence and young adulthood is increasing and unexplained; progress in treating cancer in these age groups is lagging.

• Although cancer survival among children, in particular, those with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), has risen, there are still several childhood cancers that continue to have a very poor prognosis; including brain stem tumors, metastatic sarcomas, relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, relapsed Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia.

• Cancer in childhood occurs regularly, randomly and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region.

• A number of the advances in adult cancer treatment are due to breakthroughs in childhood cancer research.

“The payback for the investment (in childhood cancer) is immense,” according to Doctor G. Denman Hammond, Founder of the National Childhood Cancer Foundation “More value-added can be achieved for every dollar invested in pediatric cancer research than in most if not virtually all other cancer research endeavors”.

These facts demonstrate the dire need for increased awareness and funding toward childhood cancer research now.

Please join us in taking steps forward that lead to the ultimate goal of being able to offer every child with cancer a better chance for a cure!