Our Kids with Cancer Don’t Need Your Well Wishes…They Need Your Money!

Unfortunately I have become an expert in something I never chose to study. I didn’t willingly enter the field of pediatric cancer. It found me by way of our 10 year old son, a boy who has been living with cancer for 8 years.

Yes, 8 years. I know it sounds unreal, but its what we have faced for the majority of our son’s life. A life of chemo treatments, hospital stays, lumbar punctures, surgeries, weekly oncology visits, radiation treatments, and transplants. Our local hospital is like a second home, the nurses and doctors like members of our family.

We have made the best of this life, ensuring that cancer never take childhood away from our boys. We have remained positive and normal for them, never letting them know the truth about the devastating effects of cancer. It has taken an enormous amount of energy on our parts, shielding our children from the reality of our son’s illness, but we felt we had no choice.

I cannot begin to tell you what we have learned about childhood cancer after being a part of this world for so long. I’m sure you can guess some of the more obvious things: it’s hell watching your child suffer, it’s devastating to consider that your child might die, it’s heartbreaking to watch your child miss out on opportunities, it’s financially taxing paying for treatment.

But when you have been in the pediatric cancer world for as long as we have, you begin to learn things about pediatric cancer that are not as obvious. Things that are unbelievable and make you angry. Things that need to be changed.

Cancer kills more children than any other illness. Yes, cancer kills the equivalent of 5 elementary schools full of children every year. But surely our government and big pharmaceutical companies are working nonstop and devoting resources to find cures for children’s cancers. Who can ignore a statistic like that?

They all can and do!

Even though cancer kills more kids than any other illness, only 4% of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) budget is earmarked for pediatric cancer research. The NCI budgets more research funding for prostate cancer than all childhood cancers combined. Since 1980, only 3 drugs have been developed to treat childhood cancers. Many treatments for childhood cancer are the same treatments that were developed over 40 years ago.

But why do we need research funds solely for pediatric cancer research? Simply put, because kids are not adults! Child survivors live longer than adult survivors. Of those who survive, 80% will go on to battle other life threatening illnesses later in life because of chemotherapy and radiation given while young bodies and brains are just developing.

It’s infuriating! Imagine what damage has been done to our son’s body during 8 years of treatment. Even if a day comes when we hear the news that he is cured, I fear that his battle is far from over. Some days it’s hard for me to even imagine that he will have a full and long life.

So if you want to do something to help a child with cancer, I mean REALLY do something that matters, donate your money to places like St. Baldrick’s, CureSearch, or TheTruth365 . These organizations are doing the legwork, raising the funds to actually fund the research to find the cures for pediatric cancers. They have read the statistics, and they refuse to walk away.

My son doesn’t need another blanket or stuffed animal. He needs a cure. And the only way he’s going to get it is if ordinary people donate money and encourage others to do the same. His life literally depends on the kindness of strangers.