Its also been a long time since I've talked about Childhood Cancer...in fact, its been a year, this month. September. National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I don't talk about it often anymore but every time I look at Kolten I am reminded and therefore, never forget. Each September, I will talk about it and I will share because everyone, everyone can help in some way or another.
The facts about childhood cancer are just plain scary. Cancer is the #1 reason for disease related deaths of children. Over 12,000+ Children will be diagnosed this year and for the past 25 years that number just keeps rising. One forth of those children, 2300+ children, will not survive.
Childhood Cancer affects the entire family, forever changing everyone. I always say, our Family was one of the "lucky" families. Kolten survived and is a thriving young Man with a bright future ahead of him. His memory of the years in treatment are cloudy and that is probably a good thing. Sometimes, I'd like to forget too but then I remember, if I forget....you could too and what we need, is to be more aware and to help those families going through it and ultimately, we need to find a way to prevent it!!
You can help. You can. You can volunteer your time, your money, your stuff...it doesn't have to be huge. It doesn't. Imagine if 1 million people donated just $1...a dollar isn't huge but $1,000,000 is!! Know a Family who is going thru it? Offer to babysit, which can be scary but the parents need a break! Clean, cook or run errands for them. Have a skill? Volunteer it....call your local children's hospital and ask what they need and how you can get involved. Like to exercise? Run a Marathon that supports Childhood Cancer! Have a blog? Post awareness and ways your readers can help! Something simple can have a huge impact!!
Here are a few great links for you to learn more about Childhood Cancer and to find out how you can help! When you get to each site, you can look up Events in your area!!
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
CureSearch
National Children's Cancer Society
Make a Wish Foundation
Okizu Foundation {A Foundation close to my heart!}
There are a lot more places where you can help, too many to even list. Go in your own community and find places local to you that help and be a part of it!!
I know this was a long post!! Thanks for taking the time to read it!! I will be back later this week with something crafty!
Hugs,
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