Childhood Cancer can be devastating to families diagnosed, it is the leading cause of death by disease past infancy for children according to stjude.org. Childhood cancer is also known as pediatric cancer and means it is found in kids, teens and young adults. There are many different types of cancer, which can be found in different places throughout the body. The most common cancer in children is called leukemia, and this is a type of blood cancer. Cancer can be found in organs and tissues like lymph nodes (lymphoma), nervous system (brain tumors), and muscles, bone and skin (solid tumors).
So what can cause cancer in children? While adult cancers are often linked to lifestyle or environmental factors, cancer in children can be different in many ways. If you are a young person, cancer is not as likely to be caused by your habits and lifestyle. But cancer-causing genetic changes—sometimes known as mutations, are more commonly thought to occur by chance. In some cases children are born with genetics that increase their risk of getting cancer. The more we learn about what genetics cause cancer, doctors can help diagnose it more efficiently.
What kind of treatments you get depends on the type of cancer diagnosed. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Sometimes it can take a long time to treat cancer, and it just depends on the type as well. It can take up to several months and even years to cure cancer, but the good news is 80% of kids become long term survivors of cancer as well.
Our Comfort Build-a-Bag program provides support to kids in the hospital undergoing cancer treatments and other treatments for other various illnesses. 3 in 10 children will lose their battle with cancer, and even though the survival rate is going up, this number is an alarming realization that childhood cancer needs to be cured. Help us spread awareness all month, as we post social media facts and statistics all September long!