Childhood Cancer Awareness

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August 19, 2021

by David Earl

A Little Background

According to the American Cancer Society, over 10,000 children will be diagnosed with cancer in 2021 with 84% of these children diagnosed today living 5 or more years past their initial dianosis. While any percentage of young children dying of cancer is a terrible story, this 84% is up from 58% in the mid-1970s which is an encouraging sign. As technological advancements have greatly aided research and development and allowed strides in treatment to be made, our contributions today give these children hope. So while I leave the details and statistics to the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute, I’d like to share some stories to show the effects we can have on these children and why continuous awareness is so important.

St Jude Children’s Research Hospital

One of the world leaders in childhood cancer research and treatment, St Jude is a prime example of what your donations can do for a family. With your donations, families never have to ever deal with the stresses of a medical bill and can keep all focus on their children. Like Natalie’s story below, this family avoided having the stresses of military life being compounded by Natalie’s treatment and care. It can’t be said enough just how much this positively affects a child during these struggles having family unaffected by outside stresses and strains especially financially.

Hogfarmers: Impact Comes From All Levels

While organizations like St Jude are nationally and world-renowned, you can find more local area charities that have tremendous impacts on families. While the Hogfarmers not only represent the local area team, the Washington Football Team, the Hogfarmers Inc. Charity Foundation mission provides a wonderful impact to families with children diagnosed with cancer. Their goal is to organize any relief for these families while helping to grant some of these children’s wishes through your donations.

This young man, Jaylan, who was recently given grim news of stage 4 colon cancer, looks to have one of his wishes granted through the help of smaller charity groups like the Hogfarmers Inc. Charity Foundation. While Jaylan is not in the best mental state after recent extensive treatments, it’s these small jesters that give a child like this facing the darkest of times some joy in what may very well be his final days. These stories are just heartbreaking to hear and absolutely terrifying for these children who surely can feel, at times, alone and scared. One technology the Hogfarmers Inc. Charity Foundation support is the Caring Bands, so these children can be reminded daily they are not alone and someone is thinking about them. This bracelet allows people to send messages of encouragement and support to those who need it the most during their struggles.

September Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

As we near the end of August and head into week 1 of the anticipated NFL season, take a moment to recognize the significance of September. Stories like Jaylan’s are heartbreaking and far too prevalent in our world, it’s the survival stories of these little warriors that are only possible with donations and positive encouragement which give any child hope. So as we go about our relatively normal lives please take a moment to either donate or volunteer your time to bring hope back into these children’s lives. With that said here are some sites of interest – these are what I’ve found, but please use due diligence before donating to any group:

St Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Children’s Cancer Research Fund

The American Cancer Society 

National Pediatric Cancer Foundation 

Ronald McDonald House Charites 

Local Charity: The Hogfarmers