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A Mother’s Promise
On August 14, 2012, I made a promise to Ryan in front of the almost 200 people at his funeral. My promise was that I will “fight like hell” to find a cure for DIPG.
The fact is that this awful cancer took my son and it will take 200-300 other children this year alone in the United States. This being a rare tumor or cancer makes it lack for funding. The government focuses on the cancers that cause more damage to our society than just a few hundred children. I feel that one child is one to many to lose.
So that’s why we started this organization. It is Ryan’s hope that we find a cure for not only DIPG but for all cancer.
How do we do that you ask? The answer is, we need to fund medical research.
By donating to Ryan’s Hope, that is exactly where our funds go. Ryan’s Hope will fund the doctor who is at the cutting edge of a new treatment that may someday help your child, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin. By purchasing this book you have given to the HOPE that one day we will see this horrible disease eradicated and protect our children and their children.
The truth:
Childhood cancer remains the number one disease killer of children in the United States. Funding for childhood cancer research on the federal level is woefully inadequate.
- Approximately 13,400 children a year will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States.
- 1 in 5 kids diagnosed will not survive their primary diagnosis
- Statistically, approximately seven children a day will die from cancer
- Even though overall survival rates have increased, two thirds of children who survive will have some type of chronic life-long health problems
- One quarter of all children who survive will have life-threatening issues as a result of the treatment • Since the 70’s, incidence rates of childhood cancer are on the rise
Funding:
- The 2012 budget for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was $5.2 billion dollars, a 3% increase over the 2011 NCI budget
- Of that $5.2 billion dollars, only about 3.8% of that budget was allocated to childhood cancer research and this figure has been flat for years
- In 2010, Breast Cancer received $631 million dollars in federal research funds through the National Cancer Institute and whereas childhood cancer received under $197 million dollars
- In FY2011 private foundations raised over $6 billion dollars for breast cancer and child hood cancer private funding paled in comparison
- Cancer kills more children that AIDS, asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and congenital anomalies combined
These are some of the facts that motivate the need for solid advocacy and increased awareness. It is for these reasons that we need to increase the message and argue for greater visibility and funding on the federal level.
Copied from: http://www.jonathanagin.com/childhood-cancer-facts.html