September is hands down the best month out of the year. Why? It’s my birthday month… football starts back (Go Jags!), and one you may or may not be familiar with… it’s childhood cancer awareness month. Unfortunately, 1 out of every 285 kids will draw the cancer card and 1 out of 5 of those precious kids will not survive. September is a time for awareness, education and fundraising to help these kids because the government only allots 3.8% of all research funding to go to childhood cancer research. Kids who have cancer only have a handful of treatment options and some of those options haven’t been updated since the 1970s.
I do my best to educate you on the reality of childhood cancer because I truly believe that if you knew about it, you’d actually want to do something about it. Childhood cancer is not rare. It does not discriminate against age, sex, race or financial status. It comes like a wrecking ball will full intentions of destroying life. If you think your child could never get cancer, join the parents of the 1 out of 285 kids that DID get cancer. Nobody ever thinks it’ll be their child… until it is.
So what does going gold really mean? It means Support. Awareness. Strength. It means showing our kids that they are the future of our world and we fight for them. It means advocating for the child who has just relapsed and is on the verge of hearing “we have no further treatment options.” It means reaching out to a family who just heard the words “your child has cancer.” It means after you change your frame on facebook to “going gold”, to also donate to research foundations. It means to remember the death of the thousands of children who died this year and vow to do more to make it so it doesn’t happen again. It means to RISE UP, STEP UP and help change the research world of childhood cancer.
Foundations that help aid in childhood cancer research:
Alexs Lemonade Stand Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation
Cure Childhood Cancer Beat Neuroblastoma Foundation
St. Baldrick’s Foundation Children’s Cancer Research Fund
Businesses that give back to childhood cancer research
Fourth and Gold Piper Lou Childhood Cancer Collection
Love Your Melon Lokai Bracelets
Will you Go Gold with me for September?