September - Childhood Cancer Awareness

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month - I'm a bit late posting this, but better late than never :). The color is yellow or gold because our children are golden, they are our treasures. Honestly, I didn't know that September was the month to raise awareness of childhood cancer until Ryan was diagnosed nearly 2 years ago (it still seems like yesterday!!) - it still gets very little attention. The reality is - research is so underfunded in this area - we need that to change. None of us think it can happen to us, I can promise you I certainly never dreamed it would be my child - but here we are. The ugly truth is - it could be your child, your neighbor down the street, a child in your child's classroom. Here are some facts from Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation:
*Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.

*One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.

*Although the 5 year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children will die 5 years
from the time of diagnosis.

*Cancer remains the number one disease killer of America's children.

It would take me forever and a day to list the many incredible things that family and friends have done for our family since we set out on this journey - just a few suggestions of what you can do for other families (these apply to any family whose child has been diagnosed with life threatening illness): Donate blood and platelets!! - truly lifesaving for these kids, Register to be a Bone Marrow donor, take a meal, send gift cards, help take care of the other children, do laundry, donate to your local children's hospital in honor of the child or to organizations that specialize in research ..... like I said the list could go on and on.

Joseph's mom (please keep this family in your prayers as they are missing their sweet boy terribly) recently mentioned an article that I would love to share with you all - click on this link, then go to the September 11th date and look for the article "What I'd Like For You to Know: The Mother of a Child with Cancer" - she says it all. www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com

Thanks to all of you who ate at Chili's last night! Every dollar will make a difference!

Another good site:
www.completethecure.com

Not a day goes by that we don't think about cancer - we rejoice when we get good news about clean scans, but our hearts literally break as we see other families we have come to know and love get the news that nobody wants. These children and their families fight with everything they've got ..........