PSA about Childhood Cancer Awareness and Breast Cancer Awareness Month

[keypooh90]

First, let me clarify by saying I am in no way belittling or discounting the battle women face. I support their fight against breast cancer and do not think any cancer is better or worse than the others, but think about this...September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Gold is the color for the kids. In September, how many commercials about Childhood Cancer Awareness did you see on tv? How many gold ribbons did you see in businesses, on television, or on athletes?

October is just beginning and already we are overrun with the pink.

Today is October 1st. Yesterday was the last day of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Now for the entire month of October you will see a wash of pink. Pink ribbons on products in every store. Pink shoes on football players in the NFL. Pink. Pink. Pink for breast cancer awareness.

What you may not realize is that breast cancer is the most well funded of all when it comes to cancer research. In just one year of funding — 2007 — the National Cancer Institute (NCI) spent $572.4 million on breast cancer research. That same year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent an additional $705 million. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation had total revenues that year of nearly $162 million. That is over 1 billion dollars in breast cancer research for a single year and doesn’t include the hundreds of smaller non-profits bringing in money.

By comparison, pediatric cancer research is woefully under-funded. There are many types of childhood cancer: leukemia, brain tumors, neuroblastoma, sarcoma, lymphoma, liver cancer, kidney cancer, skin cancer, germ cell tumors and more. All of them are lumped together for funding. For all childhood cancers combined in 2007 the NCI gave $173 million to pediatric cancer research which is less than 4% of their annual budget. The American Cancer Society budgeted even less towards childhood cancer research: only 1%. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society? 2% for children’s cancer research.

Many people believe that children benefit from research aimed towards adults. It may seem logical that when a drug is approved for adults with leukemia, certainly it must also be effective for children with leukemia. Unfortunately this almost always false. Once a drug is researched and approved for an adult it must go through the same research trials for children. Many times it proves to be ineffective for kids. In fact, of the 120 new cancer therapies for adults approved by the FDA between 1948 and January 2003, only 30 have proven effective in children. Of those 30 drugs, only 15 acquired any labeling for pediatric use during that same 55-year period

The sad fact of the matter is that children are not miniature adults. They need separately researched and specifically targeted therapies. They also need additional research to discover how to protect their growing bodies from long term side effects once they are cured since they have a whole life ahead of them.

Almost all conventional chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells. In an adult this is a more logical treatment because their bodies are finished growing, therefore the rapidly dividing cancer cells are easier to target. In children virtually all cells in the body are rapidly dividing because they are still growing and developing. That makes the cancer harder to treat and the side effects more intense and long lasting. We cannot continue to piggy back on the dregs of adult research. Childhood cancer deserves it’s own robust and innovative research that targets the unique challenges involved.

And it’s not just “kids”. The more research we do the more we discover that 15-22 year olds also need targeted therapies. Right now this is the only age group with a declining survival rate when it comes to cancer. They also have the highest fatality rate of all the age groups (aside from 70+ year olds). At this point in time children’s chemotherapy protocols are working better for teenagers than adult protocols. So when we put money into research for pediatric cancer we are really benefitting cancers affecting all young people under the age of 22.

Here is probably the biggest shocker of all. In the last 30 years do you know how many new drugs have been developed & approved specifically for childhood cancer. Only ONE! I cannot tell you how devastated this makes me feel. ONE new drug… is that all the children fighting for their lives are worth? The average cost of research and development to bring one drug to market is $802 million. At the rate we are going a cure for pediatric cancer seems very far away.

So before you think pink… consider supporting a charity that is truly invested in pediatric cancer research. I recommend:

CURE Childhood Cancer

Rally Foundation

Curing Kids Cancer

 

[Ppufi]

Thank you for this! I appreciate when people spread the word on childhood cancer.

 

[keypooh90]

Thank you for this! I appreciate when people spread the word on childhood cancer.

Thank you! I have volunteered directly with pediatric cancer patients for several years and they are truly my inspiration. I donate my money to CURE and the Aflac Cancer Center in Atlanta, and can't wait to get down to Orlando (want to work for Disney fulltime) so that I can volunteer weekly at GKTW.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Wonderful post!

At 3:00 today a sweet little 12 year old girl ended her fight against brain cancer. I became aware of this child and her family though the Dis boards when her Mom posted about their make-a-wish trip to Disney. This sweet child fought the beast of cancer for over three years.........I do not know the family personally, but my heart has been breaking for them. Childhood cancer is soooooo sad.

On a different note, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and uterine cancer in July of 2011. Ovarian cancer is often called the poor step sister to breast cancer. It is the most deadly of the female cancers but you never hear anything about it. breast cancer has pink, ovarian cancer has teal......you never see teal.

As far as sports team wearing pink in support. I think it is awesome. However, this is what I find ironic. Bob Kraft is the owner of the Patriots. Last year his own wife died of ovarian cancer. His players never wore teal at a game for ovarian cancer awareness.........but they wore pink for breast cancer.

I love the support for breast cancer..........I would LOVE a little support shown for other cancers........despite the fact that I am dealing with two, childhood cancer NEEDS some support.

 

[Kaspar Houser]

Thank you for making my kind of cancer a "second hand" cancer. Wow really !!!!
And yes I know the pain losing a child family member. We walked behind a little white coffin and buried our two year old nephew who died from a brain tumor.

 

[sissy_ib]

Thank you for making my kind of cancer a "second hand" cancer. Wow really !!!!
And yes I know the pain losing a child family member. We walked behind a little white coffin and buried our two year old nephew who died from a brain tumor.

Those are your words. No one is asking for less suport of breast, or any kind of cancer. Just more for childhood cancer. I am very sorry for your family's loss.

 

[sissy_ib]

Wonderful post!

At 3:00 today a sweet little 12 year old girl ended her fight against brain cancer. I became aware of this child and her family though the Dis boards when her Mom posted about their make-a-wish trip to Disney. This sweet child fought the beast of cancer for over three years.........I do not know the family personally, but my heart has been breaking for them. Childhood cancer is soooooo sad.

On a different note, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and uterine cancer in July of 2011. Ovarian cancer is often called the poor step sister to breast cancer. It is the most deadly of the female cancers but you never hear anything about it. breast cancer has pink, ovarian cancer has teal......you never see teal.

As far as sports team wearing pink in support. I think it is awesome. However, this is what I find ironic. Bob Kraft is the owner of the Patriots. Last year his own wife died of ovarian cancer. His players never wore teal at a game for ovarian cancer awareness.........but they wore pink for breast cancer.

I love the support for breast cancer..........I would LOVE a little support shown for other cancers........despite the fact that I am dealing with two, childhood cancer NEEDS some support.

I'm wondering if the Pats thing is because the NFL officially supports breast cancer awarness but not ovarian?? There may have been fines on the players for the uniform alterations or something of that nature.

 

[ladypage]

Thank you for making my kind of cancer a "second hand" cancer. Wow really !!!!
And yes I know the pain losing a child family member. We walked behind a little white coffin and buried our two year old nephew who died from a brain tumor.

Who in this thread has made any type of cancer a second hand cancer?

OP, I see exactly what you're saying. Don't get me wrong, I love that breast cancer gets press and that people are willing to work so hard to end it. I just wish that these other types would also draw as much attention, and people would work to end them in the same way. My friend's sister was killed by a tumor, so we definitely payed attention last month, and supported the cause.

And I may get flamed for this, but I don't normally go out of my way to support the Susan G. Komen group, as I know a lot of people in my area do. I disagree with some of their policies and tactics, and prefer to donate to groups that I know will actually help those suffering from cancer. Don't get me wrong, breast cancer has touched my family, and I would do anything be able to stop or take that pain away from them, but the Susan G. Komen group isn't how I help.

 

[Aulika]

Chosing color to taise awareness was a nice idea. But i hate that i feel like i have to choose which cause I support.
Why do we need to choose between fighting against leukemie, lymphoma, colon cancer, skin cancer ????
I know funding is limited but i hete to choose.

 

[mom2travel]

I'm wondering if the Pats thing is because the NFL officially supports breast cancer awarness but not ovarian?? There may have been fines on the players for the uniform alterations or something of that nature.

That's what I'm thinking.


It seems from what I've read that the money goes where the numbers are - more women diagnosed with breast cancer than children with cancer. But as the OP notes, the drugs & treatments are not in proportion. The daughter of one of our closest friends, who our kids consider a cousin, was diagnosed with leukemia in kindergarten; she is thankfully now in remission.

I know at least 3 children who are friends of friends who passed away in the last year due to different forms of cancer. It is heartbreaking. One of them lives near us, and I watched them fight their son's leukemia to the end, and saw the impact on their other children. Another family has set up a foundation to raise awareness and money for childhood cancers in their daughter's name after she died (4 months after diagnosis) from neuroblastoma. The pain their family has suffered is unimaginable.

Prayers to all who must fight the fight of cancer, regardless of age

 

[luvmy3]

SGK started somewhere, until someone really starts to bring awareness to other cancers they will always be in the foreground when it comes to advertised support (for lack of a better word). Someone, some group has to be extremely vocal about it because until then you only have people like you to make people aware. I had no idea that September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and because of you I now do. Thank you.



Almost 300,000 people were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012.
I found a stat that said on average 12,400 kids and adolescents are diagnosed each year. There are so many more people out there who have been personally effected by BC so its logical that there would be more awareness and monetary support for it.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Thank you for making my kind of cancer a "second hand" cancer. Wow really !!!!
And yes I know the pain losing a child family member. We walked behind a little white coffin and buried our two year old nephew who died from a brain tumor.

Not sure where you came up with "second hand" cancer, but I havent gotten that impression from anything that I have read here..........

 

[fortwildernessishome]

I'm wondering if the Pats thing is because the NFL officially supports breast cancer awarness but not ovarian?? There may have been fines on the players for the uniform alterations or something of that nature.

You are probably right.

I guess I just feel that since Bob Kraft is a millionaire and has a "voice" he has the tools to raise awareness.

The thing about ovarian cancer is over 80% of us that get it will die, and will most likely spend the rest of our time on earth fighting it. You need to have tons of healthy people raising money and planning fuctions like you see for breast cancer. Sadly, many cancers, such as childhood cancers, just dont have the strenght and power in numbers to do what breast cancer groups have done.

Its GREAT that so much has been done for breast cancer, just sad that it cant be done for all cancers.

 

[SAHDad]

FWIW - September was also prostate cancer awareness month. Don't know about anyone else, but I started seeing BC awareness ribbons and random pink stuff by the middle of Sept.

Quick Google hits - 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 57,650 non-invasive, and about 39,520 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2011.

American Cancer Society estimates for prostate cancer in the United States are for 2012:

About 241,740 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed
About 28,170 men will die of prostate cancer

BC is a 1 in 8 lifetime risk (for invasive), PC is a 1 in 6.

BC isn't a second-hand cancer - but at this time of the year, when it seems like anything that can be made pink, is; all the other cancers feel somewhat second-hand in comparison.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

FWIW - September was also prostate cancer awareness month. Don't know about anyone else, but I started seeing BC awareness ribbons and random pink stuff by the middle of Sept.

Quick Google hits - 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 57,650 non-invasive, and about 39,520 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2011.

American Cancer Society estimates for prostate cancer in the United States are for 2012:

About 241,740 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed
About 28,170 men will die of prostate cancer

BC is a 1 in 8 lifetime risk (for invasive), PC is a 1 in 6.

BC isn't a second-hand cancer - but at this time of the year, when it seems like anything that can be made pink, is; all the other cancers feel somewhat second-hand in comparison.

Great post!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Good Question: Why So Much Breast Cancer Attention?

When will Breast Cancer stop getting too much attention?

When people stop developing breast cancer and there is a cure.

Breast Cancer advocates get out there and get the word out...that is why it gets so much attention. If you were a breast cancer survivor, patient, or lost someone to breast cancer, you would be getting your fanny out there and doing something about it...

You know why breast cancer has a higher profile than other cancers? Simple - sheer hard work.

Breast cancer awareness campaigns and Breast Cancer Awareness Month started as a campaign by a handful of ordinary women, most of whom had breast cancer or had lost someone to it, to raise awareness so that people knew the symptoms, examined themselves regularly, attended their routine mammograms etc. It caught the public imagination and enthusiastic participation and hard work by women made it grow into something nationally, then internationally, recognised (and then big business cashed in)

There are awareness campaigns and months for other cancers - but the fact is that none has had the hard work put into it that breast cancer awareness has - hard work by people affected by breast cancer and their families By the way, we are very, very far from 100% survival. Thanks to breast cancer awareness campaigns it's no longer the automatic killer it once was, but in the US an average of 112 women die from it every day - that's one every 15 minutes.

And it is NEVER considered cured, as it can return at any time, even years after diagnosis and treatment.

If the other cancers you mention are causes close to your heart - and good for you if they are - there is nothing to stop you from enlisting the help of a couple of friends to start an awareness and fundraising campaign for any one of them. But you'd have to be prepared to be as dedicated and to work as hard and be as dedicated as that small number of women who started the breast cancer campaigns were ''If I started my own campaign, it won't be enough. You need to have a whole group of people''.

Hmm... tell that to those women, or to the man who started th Movember movement. Movember is a sponsored moustache growing event throughout each November to raise awareness and money for men's cancers, and prostate cancer in particular. The founder of the Movember movement noticed the success of breast cancer campaigns and copied it. He openly acknowledges his debt to (and admiration for) the hard work done by women around breast cancer. It inspired him to work similarly hard around the cancers he felt passionately about. And in 2009 Movember raised £5m for prostate cancer research in the 30 days of November in the UK alone. Now THERE'S someone who didn't waste any time wondering about the attention breast cancer receives in comparison to other cancers, but realised that the solution wasn't less attention for breast cancer, but more attention for other cancers, and started a campaign which became hugely successful in a very short space of time.

Nothing to stop any person or group of people doing the same.

http://www.thirdage.com/hc/c/q/brea...breast-cancer-stop-getting-too-much-attention

Good Question, Why So Much Breast Cancer Attention?

By Jason DeRusha, WCCO-TV

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Pink ribbons are everywhere in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month. And although other diseases have their own weeks or months, there’s little question that breast cancer gets the most publicity. So, why does breast cancer get so much attention?

“I think women have become very empowered, and they have decided to take charge of the disease,” said Lois Joseph, the co-founder of the Breast Cancer Awareness Association in Minnesota.

Joseph was diagnosed with breast cancer nine years ago and she survived.

“I think we’ve created a sisterhood, unfortunately, of breast cancer survivors,” said Joseph.

But she also acknowledges the non-stop marketing barrage that happens every October.

“It’s en vogue. So many people are aware of it to promote a product or promote an organization,” she said.

The non-stop marketing has some wondering, why isn’t there more attention to more deadly cancers?

On Twitter, Katie Hamlin wrote, “My uncle died of lung cancer last [week] & every time I see a breast cancer thing, I ask ‘What about all the other cancers?’”

“My mom is slowly dying of ovarian cancer. It is far more deadly and gets little pub,” wrote Lisa V. on Twitter.

In 2006, the latest year where U.S. cancer statistics are available, 191,410 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s second only to skin cancer in new diagnoses, and it is right behind lung cancer, which had 196,454 new cases.

But when it comes to deadly cancers, 158,599 died of lung cancer in 2006, 53,196 died from colorectal cancer and 40,820 women died from breast cancer.

Heart disease kills far more all three combined, 631,636 in 2006 according to the CDC.

“Women have taken this on as an issue they know they can fight,” said Angie Rolle, a prevention coordinator at the Minnesota chapter of the American Cancer Society.

“We’re fighting against all cancers every single day,” said Rolle.

Marketers of all types have latched on to the breast cancer cause. On Twitter, Geri surmised that it’s because breast cancer “affects one of men’s favorite female body parts.”

“I never thought about it that way, but perhaps that is true,” said Joseph. “We are all focused on the breast, whether it’s breast enhancement or mastectomy.”

All this marketing works for the cancer charities, which bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. And it works for the companies. According to a Newsweek article, a 2008 online survey conducted by Cone, found that 85 percent of Americans said they found it acceptable for companies to involve a cause or issue in their marketing, up from 66 percent in 1993. And 79 percent of respondents said they were likely to switch from one brand to another if was associated with a good cause.

So, by focusing on one cancer, are other cancers losing out?

“I’m going to address that directly: No,” said Joseph.

Her position is that if the choice is to market and talk about breast cancer as opposed to no cancer, she’s happy to see all the pink.

“When we find a cure for breast cancer, that will absolutely spill over to other diseases. It does impact other cancers,” said Joseph.

Rolle agreed.

“I think as we raise awareness about colon cancer, men and women will be more comfortable talking about if they’ve been diagnosed,” she said.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2010/10/06/good-question-why-so-much-breast-cancer-attention/

 

[Southernmiss]

October is also spina bifada awareness month.

 

[dis-happy]

Much of the present day cancer research money and push for a cure actually stems from the AIDS activism of the early days. After watching research money get thrown at HIV research to find out what was going on and how to cure it, other groups affected by cancer became vocal as well. In fact the pink ribbon icon was borrowed from the red AIDS ribbon (which came first).

 

[Bungle]

And I may get flamed for this, but I don't normally go out of my way to support the Susan G. Komen group, as I know a lot of people in my area do. I disagree with some of their policies and tactics, and prefer to donate to groups that I know will actually help those suffering from cancer. Don't get me wrong, breast cancer has touched my family, and I would do anything be able to stop or take that pain away from them, but the Susan G. Komen group isn't how I help.

I agree 100%.

I also agree that all cancers suck. We need a lot more money for research in almost all areas of not only treatment but prevention and early detection.

 

[SaraJayne]

Who in this thread has made any type of cancer a second hand cancer?

OP, I see exactly what you're saying. Don't get me wrong, I love that breast cancer gets press and that people are willing to work so hard to end it. I just wish that these other types would also draw as much attention, and people would work to end them in the same way. My friend's sister was killed by a tumor, so we definitely payed attention last month, and supported the cause.

And I may get flamed for this, but I don't normally go out of my way to support the Susan G. Komen group, as I know a lot of people in my area do. I disagree with some of their policies and tactics, and prefer to donate to groups that I know will actually help those suffering from cancer. Don't get me wrong, breast cancer has touched my family, and I would do anything be able to stop or take that pain away from them, but the Susan G. Komen group isn't how I help.

I agree with you about susan g komen. As soon as I found out more about the org a few years ago, they haven't gotten another dime of our money.