In just 3 days, Americans spend more on Starbucks than the federal government spends on childhood cancer research in an entire year. Let that sink it.

Childhood cancer is wildly underfunded and receives less than 4% of the National Cancer Institute's yearly budget. That mere 4% is then decided amongst dozens of types of cancer, as well as countless subtypes. Most individual forms of adult cancers receive more research funding from NCI than ALL childhood cancers combined. And, even though it is the number one cause of death by disease in children under the age of 19, much of our society still thinks it is rare. Childhood cancer is NOT rare! The average age of diagnosis is 8 years old and 1 in 5 children will not survive (average of 71 years of life lost per child). The saddest part is, in many cases, it's not the cancer that kills them. It's the treatments they receive. Since 1980, only 4 drugs have been approved for use in children, which means that kids as young as one month old are receiving toxic drugs made for adult bodies. If they do survive treatment, 1 in 3 will die young and many more will have side effects late into their adult like that are a direct result of the drugs they were given as children.

This is the sad reality of childhood cancer and the more I learn, the more I know that I need to be a part of the movement to raise funds and awareness. So today, in addition to (or instead of) spending money on coffee, I ask that you please take a moment to donate to this fundraiser I set up with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation in honor of my birthday and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (September). If you are unable to donate, please feel free to share my post and/or the website link with anyone who you think would be interested! The donation link will be open for two weeks (until Oct 6). Thank you for helping me make a difference in the lives of children with cancer.

#morethan4% #childhoodcancerawareness