It is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

As they wrote on daysoftheyear.com, "There is one thing in the world all of us can agree shouldn’t exist, and this is the Child Oncology Ward in any hospital, anywhere. But living with cancer is a reality faced by thousands of children all over the US. National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month reminds us this is an ever-growing epidemic, and with the combined efforts of us all, there is something which can be done to prevent this horrible disease." 

I found the following childhood cancer facts from Alex's Lemonade (dot) org - did you know - 

Childhood cancer research is consistently underfunded.

Each day, 47 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States, which means more than 17,000 children in the U.S. are diagnosed each year.

Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in American children, resulting in the death of approximately 1,800 kids each year.

There are approximately 500,000 childhood cancer survivors in the United States.

In the United States, 85% of children diagnosed with cancer are alive at least five years after diagnosis; however this does not mean they are cured or free from long-term side effects.

Even those who are cured may suffer long-term side effects as a result of the cancer treatments they received. Children who were treated for cancer are twice as likely to suffer chronic health conditions later in life versus children without a history of cancer.

So this month, and every month, be thankful for the children you know and love who do not battle with cancer, and do all you are able to do to help those families who do. I shared yesterday about how my son is riding this month to raise money to fight kid's cancer in the Great Cycle Challenge. You are still able to donate through this link and learn more about it as well, because, "There is one thing in the world all of us can agree shouldn’t exist, and this is the Child Oncology Ward in any hospital, anywhere."