August is Children’s Cancer Awareness Month
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Pediatric cancer is different from adult cancers. There are 16 known major types of pediatric cancer and hundreds of subtypes.
In the United States in 2019, an estimated 11,060 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed among children from birth to 14 years, and about 1,190 children are expected to die from the disease. Although cancer death rates for this age group have declined by 65 percent from 1970 to 2016, cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among children.
The most common cancers of children are:
- Leukemia
- Brain and spinal cord tumors
- Neuroblastoma
- Wilms tumor
- Lymphoma (including both Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin)
- Rhabdomyosarcoma
- Retinoblastoma
- Bone cancer (including osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma)
Other types of cancers are rare in children, but they do happen sometimes. In very rare cases, children may even develop cancers that are much more common in adults.
Children’s cancers are not always treated like adult cancers. Pediatric oncology is a medical specialty focused on the care of children with cancer. It’s important to know that this expertise exists and that there are effective treatments for many childhood cancers.
There are many types of cancer treatment. The types of treatment that a child with cancer receives will depend on the type of cancer and how advanced it is. Common treatments include: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and stem cell transplant.
Children face unique issues during their treatment for cancer, after the completion of treatment, and as survivors of cancer. For example, they may receive more intense treatments, cancer and its treatments have different effects on growing bodies than adult bodies, and they may respond differently to drugs that control symptoms in adults.
If OUR children are our future, then why are we not fighting harder to find cures for them?”
Funding scientific cancer research; raising awareness about why this funding is so important; and, supporting an organization that is searching for the most promising cancer cure is critically important.
Help us find a cure for childhood cancer by supporting National Cancer Center’s Children’s Cancer Project today.
Click here to learn more and take action. https://nationalcancercenter.org/the-childrens-cancer-project/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
