About childhood CANCER

More children are lost to cancer in the U.S. than any other disease—in fact, more than many other childhood diseases combined.

Before they turn 20, about 1 in 285 children in the U.S. will have cancer.

Worldwide, a child is diagnosed every 2 minutes.

In the 1950s, almost all kids diagnosed with cancer died. Because of research, today about 90% of kids with the most common type of cancer will live. But for many other types, progress has been limited, and for some kids there is still little hope for a cure.

Even the term “childhood cancer” is a problem, because it actually means cancers that strike infants, children, teens and young adults. That’s why the St. Baldrick’s Foundation often refers to “kids” with cancer.
While the word “kid” is slang and isn’t used in other countries, in the U.S., it is more inclusive. (At 21, you may be a college kid, but you’re certainly not a child!)

But the issue is far more serious than language. Adolescents and young adults with cancer are often treated as adults. If they received childhood cancer treatments instead, 30% more would survive!

How cancer behaves.
Most of us have relatively well-behaved cells. Cancer happens when some cells get out of control.
A normal cell knows how to grow and divide to make new cells, and knows when to stop and die. But a cancer cell isn’t normal. It grows and spreads too fast, and it won’t die.

All those cancer cells can clump together to form a tumor. Not only can tumors grow to damage the part of the body where they start, they can also spread (or metastasize) to other organs where they do even more damage—sometimes ending a life.