I am riding this year to raise funds for pediatric cancer research and awareness. I will be participating in the 60 mile ride on July 20, 2014. Pediatric cancer research is so very underfunded, and every little bit helps...
The Sad facts of Pediatric Cancer...from Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation
1. It is estimated 12,500 children in the United States and over 240,000 children worldwide
develop cancer every year.
2. Approximately 2,500 of those children diagnosed in the United States will not survive.
3. Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the United States. It is the second leading cause of death overall, only behind accidents.
4. On average, 35 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every day in the
United States.
5. 1 in every 330 Americans develop cancer before the age of twenty.
6. On average, one in every four elementary schools in the United States has a child with cancer.
The average high school has two students who are current or former cancer patients.
7. Among the 12 major types of childhood cancers, leukemias and cancers of the brain and
central nervous system account for more than half of the new cases in the United States.
8. 80% of children show that cancer has spread to distant sites in the body at first diagnosis.
Only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the disease has spread at the time
of diagnosis.
9. The causes of most childhood cancers are unknown. At present, childhood cancer cannot
be prevented.
10. On average, childhood cancer treatment lasts at least two years; and current treatments
cause side-effects that can last a lifetime.
11. Childhood cancer research is vastly underfunded. Currently, the National Cancer Institute gives only 4% of its grants to childhood cancer.
12. With each day, and each dollar, we get one step closer to Alex’s dream of finding a cure for ALL childhood cancers.