Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. Mattie was battling cancer for a month by that point. On that day, I took Mattie back to his preschool to spend time with a preschool buddy and his teachers. We all met on the playground that day. The ironic part of this photo was this SLIDE! When Mattie first entered preschool he was deathly afraid of going down a slide. However, within that first year, he over came that fear and would zoom down the slide like no tomorrow. Even with a broviac attached to his chest (a catheter which enabled chemotherapy and other medicines to go directly into a central vein in Mattie's body), Mattie gravitated to the slide, he enjoyed running around on the playground, and for that moment in time he seemed like a "normal" kid.
Quote of the day: We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. ~ Mother Teresa
We are now five days into the month of September. A time of year when children go back to school and for many in seems like this marks the end of the summer season. It is rather ironic that a month that is associated with children returning to school, learning, and engaging with friends and other activities would be chosen as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. In fact, I really wonder just how many people know that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month? Honestly take a poll of those around you?! I bet 80% or more of the people you ask will just look at you perplexed!
With that said, if you ask anyone what a pink ribbon symbolizes, chances are they will immediately say...... Breast Cancer. October is breast cancer awareness month and you will see PINK ribbons everywhere. I mean everywhere at Macy's, at Football games (I remember glancing at the TV last year and seeing professional players wearing pink socks, helmets, etc.), on the sides of yogurt containers and the list goes on. I take no issue with PINK. It happens to be one of my favorite colors and certainly it is a campaign that has brought great awareness to breast cancer. Awareness, getting diagnosed, and treated early are all crucial regardless of the type of cancer and the age of the patient. But one has to wonder why the GOLD ribbon hasn't taken off in the same fashion. Gold is the official color of childhood cancer. I certainly know many organizations are working very hard on their gold campaign.... "Gold being the new pink!"
I am not sure where I am with the gold ribbon debate, but I do know that understanding the facts are important regarding childhood cancer. I attached two links below. The first link was written by a mom who lost her child to a brain tumor. Her 8 brutal truths about childhood cancer are spot on! She mentions the American Cancer Society's lack of funding to childhood cancer, but unfortunately this is also true for the National Cancer Institute (with less than four percent of funding going to childhood cancer a year!). It is a systemic problem, most likely because of the number of patients diagnosed with childhood cancer in a year. Though 14,000 children are diagnosed with cancer a year, this number is SMALL in comparison to the adult population. Also there are many different forms of childhood cancer, which makes learning about each one very difficult. This is unlike breast, colon, and prostate cancers which impact thousands of adults a year. Putting it further into context, there are NOT many kids diagnosed with multifocal synchronis osteosarcoma (like Mattie) in a year. In fact, one of Mattie's oncologists said that a case like Mattie's is seen maybe once every decade around the world, not even in the US. It's rare. So how do you study such a rare disease? In essence the answer is you really don't, and it is hard to fund, because what are you funding? You don't have much of a sample patient size to pull from!
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month: 8 Brutal Truths to Choke On
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-leigh/childhood-cancer-awareness-month-_b_3837486.html
The second link, which always makes me LAUGH is the president's proclamation that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month. I particularly love when I hear about the "great strides" and "extensive research funding" that are being made! These are words, not actions, and in all reality these words bring relatively little comfort to those battling cancer and especially to those who lost a child to the disease. I suppose we need to start somewhere and in all reality starting somewhere begins with each person reading this blog. You are the change agents! You know September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, so tell two people you know and encourage them to tell two more people. The campaign starts NOW with ALL of us!
Presidential Proclamation -- National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 2013
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/30/presidential-proclamation-national-childhood-cancer-awareness-month-2013
No comments:
Post a Comment