September has always been a special time for me, as far back as I can remember.
Growing up in Florida, September meant that the long hot summer would soon be coming to an end, and cooler days were ahead. September also meant 'Back-to-School'; a time I loved & looked forward to with much excitement.
Unfortunately, for the two children pictured on my sidebar, their much anticipated first day of Kindergarten will have to wait awhile, as they are in the midst of chemo &/or radiation treatments for cancer.
(If you'd like to follow their journey, just click on the sidebar link marked 'Clayton's Journal' or 'Kate's Journal' for updates from their CaringBridge sites).
Growing up in Florida, September meant that the long hot summer would soon be coming to an end, and cooler days were ahead. September also meant 'Back-to-School'; a time I loved & looked forward to with much excitement.
Unfortunately, for the two children pictured on my sidebar, their much anticipated first day of Kindergarten will have to wait awhile, as they are in the midst of chemo &/or radiation treatments for cancer.
(If you'd like to follow their journey, just click on the sidebar link marked 'Clayton's Journal' or 'Kate's Journal' for updates from their CaringBridge sites).
Here are a few statistics that'll pull at your heartstrings, as they did mine:*Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.
*One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.
*Each year in the U.S., over 12,600 children are diagnosed with cancer.
*Although the 5-year survival rate is steadily increasing, one quarter of children diagnosed with cancer will die 5 years from the time of diagnosis.
*Cancer remains the number one disease killer of America's children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined.
*80% of children have metastatic disease at time of diagnosis, as compared to only 20% of adults.
*There are currently more than 270,000 childhood cancer survivors in the U.S.
*Late effects of childhood cancer treatment are common in survivors, and approximately one-third are moderate to severe.
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3 comments:
Thank you for sharing this. It does pull at the heartstrings. A friend of my daughter's passed away from cancer in high school. It was heartbreaking. It is so hard to see the little ones suffer. I will check out the journals on your sidebar.
(Thank you for your prayers.)
Thank you for your comments, Susan!
I'm so sorry about your friend's daughter!
I hope you were able to read Clayton & Kate's story. Both of these children have Christian families and much support, but it's still so tough to endure!
Thanks for sharing, I want to do a special post about this during Sept. also.
Have a good weekend!
Yes, Caleb loves school. I should do a post about that. He is having such fun, I love hearing his stories when I pick him up each day. I am so thankful he loves it so much.
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