Key Facts You Should Know

Facts About Childhood Cancers:

• Cancer kills more children than any other disease.
• One in every 300 Americans is diagnosed with cancer before age 20.
• 70% of children diagnosed with cancer will survive. Just 30 years ago, only 25% of these children survived.
• This progress is due solely to research. But there is much work to be done.
• The median age for a child with cancer is 6 years old. That means that an entire lifetime is at stake!
• More than 400,000 patient-years of life are being saved each year using newly-discovered treatments for childhood cancer.

Most adult cancers result from lifestyle factors, such as smoking, diet, occupation, and other exposure to cancer-causing agents. The causes of most childhood cancers are not yet known. When you can rule out lifestyle factors, the research on childhood cancers can focus on the basic causes - cell mutation, genetics, etc. - which gives us insight into all kinds of cancer.

Many of the principles of therapy used in treating adults, including chemotherapy, were first tested and developed in children.

Why is pediatric cancer research so under-funded?

• All pediatric cancers combined receive less than 20% of the funding that colon cancer alone receives.
• The American Cancer Society contributes less than 5% of its grant monies to pediatric cancers.
• Children can't speak for themselves

How important is non-profit funding in the race to cure cancer?

This article from the Houston Chronicle perfectly describes the critical importance and extreme benefits of research funding from non-profit companies like CancerFree KIDS.