Childhood cancer is real, and it affects thousands of kids and families around the world every year. If you’re interested in joining the fight against childhood cancer, there are a few realities you should know:
About Childhood Cancer
Worldwide, a child is diagnosed every 2 minutes.
- it is the #1 disease killer of children in the U.S.
- 1 in 5 kids won’t survive. When they do, 2/3 will suffer long term effects.
Kids’ cancers are different than adult cancers.
Even when kids and adults have the same cancer–like Lymphoma– they must be treated differently.
In adults:
- Drug development funding plays a part
- Cancer research receives about 60% of funding from pharmaceutical companies
In kids:
- Before they turn 20, about 1 in 285 children in the US will have cancer
- 80% of the time, the cancer has already spread by the time they’re diagnosed.
- Cancer research receives close to nothing in funding
Adults get cancer more than kids, but look closer.
The average age of diagnosis for kids is 6 years old. For adults, it’s 67.
Kids lose on average 71 years of life, compared to 15 for adults. And those years we could save? They’re the years when a kid could
- Grow up, marry, and have children of their own
- Create something beautiful the world has never seen
- Or even discover a cure for cancer
Researchers face a BIGGER challenge to find a cure for every kid.
There are 12+ types of childhood cancers, but 100’s of subtypes.
In the 1950s, a childhood cancer diagnosis was practically a death sentence. But today, about 90% of kids with the most common type of cancer will survive.
Cures cost money.
Less than 4% of the U.S. national Cancer Institute’s cancer research budget is designated for childhood cancer. However, more than $230 Million has been granted by St. Baldrick’s to date–making it the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants.
Big-Picture Funding
St. Baldrick’s funds more than one part of the research process. Grants are provided from the discovery phase through the creation of new childhood cancer treatments. Your support could help fund research that finds a cure.
Join us and help fund the most promising research for kids with cancer.
Donate Now
