September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month!
This is an article that I have been submitting to various organizations to help raise awareness for all those who have battled or are battling childhood cancer. Let’s all take a moment to say a prayer for all those families who are on the frontlines or are facing the after affects of this horrible disease. Please feel free to copy and paste this story where ever you think it might make a difference!
Our Youngest Warriors
Is today the day? Is today the last day I will have with my child, our dreams shattered and lives forever changed? In a perverse reversal of anticipation from the day of their birth, these unimaginable questions are circling the minds of some unfortunate parents all over the world. In a scene too hard to comprehend for many, these parents are living a reality worse than any nightmare they have ever dreamed. It goes against nature, against all of our expectations, to watch a child die. And yet it continues to happen over and over again – at least 2,500 times a year in the US – seven times a day! Maybe that doesn’t seem like many, but believe me when I tell you ONE is too many. These parents are from every race, creed, geographic region and socioeconomic class – their child has been picked in a very unpredictable and random manner. You may wonder who they are and how you can avoid becoming one of them. If only there were an answer! I write this knowing all too well the horror of this situation because I am one of them. My husband and I have experienced the unimaginable and were counted among one of those seven on May 9, 2006. Our son was diagnosed with cancer at the age of eight and every day after that diagnosis, I lived with those unimaginable questions in my head. Our answer came ten months after his diagnosis when he took his last breath on this earth.
Childhood cancer is a war going on all around you. Not in some far away place, but right in front of you. If you have no one close to you in the battle, you may be unaware of this war’s impact. Until you are intimately affected when someone you know is suddenly drafted without warning, you do not realize the intensity of this battle. I know I did not. The opponent uses many disguises and sneak attacks, usually striking when those selected to join the battle least expect it. Cancer rips these kids from their normal existence in an instant and throws them onto an unfamiliar battlefield filled with suffering and pain. Turning their innocent lives into a nightmare of needles, pills, MRI’s, chemo and radiation…things no child should ever have to face. There are some victories in the battle, but unfortunately, the war is far from over.
Since July of 2005, when my son was diagnosed, I have lurked near the frontlines of this war watching its devastating effects. He joined the 12,500 other young warriors that were diagnosed that year on a well worn battlefield filled with land mines and barbed wire. We were woefully unprepared for this battle and found there was little ammunition, in the form of new types of treatments, available to provide to our young warrior. But he, just like all his fellow warriors, did not let that affect his courage in the battle. He faced his opponent with a strong determination and optimism, unmatched in many of the adult battles being fought all around him. He was too busy fighting to see that the adult battles seemed to have many more weapons to choose from, but we did. It is an injustice we like many other parents of these young warriors discover with disbelief and disgust…very little money has been devoted to building up the weapons for many forms of childhood cancer. It seems there is not enough “economic incentive” for the research to be done. It is true, there have been wonderful and amazing advances for some types of childhood cancer, but not enough. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease of children under the age of 15! In the United States, the incidence of cancer among adolescents and young adults is increasing at a greater rate than any other age group except those over 65. And yet childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded every year!
September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month. September 12, is a day of special recognition for these young warriors. Take the time to recognize these very brave children all around you by joining the fight. There are many ways to help through local and national organizations dedicated to helping these kids and their families. They need your time, money, prayers and toys. Most of all they need your voice. Write Congress to demand full funding of the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act. The current proposed funding is $10 million ($20 million short of Public Law 110-285). Surely after spending BILLIONS on used cars our government can spare a little change to SAVE OUR KIDS!
Sherry Tucker, author of Unfinished Love – Walking by Faith through Pediatric Cancer and founder of Giving Hope Through Faith Foundation, lost her son Zach to a cancerous brain tumor in 2006. See www.sherrytucker.net for more information.
For His Glory,
Sherry
