Brennan’s Buddies® ©2012

SOME CHILDHOOD CANCER FACTS

Pediatric cancer is considered  rare, but it is the leading cause of death by disease in children - more than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined. Each school day, one in 46 children is diagnosed with cancer. Although pediatric patients represent only one percent of all cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, the impact of childhood cancer deaths on society in regards to lifetime earnings is close in comparison to the impact of  breast cancer deaths.

The United States spends five billion dollars on cancer research every year; three percent of this amount is allocated to pediatric cancer research.

Childhood cancer is the #1 disease killer of children even though it receives very little funding, little research and not enough awareness.

80% of children are already at STAGE 3 or STAGE 4 when diagnosed as compared to 20% of adults. This means the cancer has already moved to other parts of their bodies and which makes it much more difficult to treat and cure.

ONE new drug has been approved to combat pediatric cancer since 1980, a period that saw 50 medications approved to fight adult cancers.

 Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among U.S. children between infancy and age 15. Approximately 11,210 new cases of pediatric cancer are expected to be diagnosed in children 0–14 years of age in 2011. Among the major types of childhood cancers, leukemia's (blood cell cancers) and brain and other central nervous system (CNS) tumors account for more than half of new cases.

In 2010, the National Cancer Institute budget for cancer research was nearly five billion dollars, and this is where most federal funding for childhood cancer research comes from, with a small amount coming through philanthropy. While it is difficult to determine precisely how much in any given year is spent on childhood cancer research, experts estimate that number to be around $190 million per year. However, when comparing the average cost of cancer treatment to life years saved, childhood cancer has a significantly lower average cost than those costs associated with screenings for breast, prostate, colon and ovarian cancers.

This is how Childhood Cancer left our family!