September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to acknowledge the thousands of children and their families who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis, raise awareness about the reality of childhood cancer, and emphasize the importance of research.
In order to bring public attention to Childhood Cancer Awareness, Warren City Hall will light up gold from dusk Monday, September 30, until dawn on Tuesday, October 1.
Facts About Childhood Cancer Month
- ACCO, The American Childhood Cancer Association has been deeply involved with Childhood Cancer Awareness Month since the first one in 1990. President Bush proclaimed October 1990 as National Awareness Month for Children with Cancer, but it was only for that year and that month. In 2012, Barack Obama issued a proclamation that September would be, then and always, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
- Childhood Cancer Awareness Month isn’t just for those children who are fighting this horrible disease, but for those who have lost that fight and their families. Cancer takes over a family’s life when even when it’s an adult patient; when it’s a child everything is overturned. Even with organizations like St. Jude who do everything they can to help children battle the disease and remain in good spirits, life outside the hospital moves on, and medical bills continue to crop up.
- Survivors who have lost children to this disease are also in need of support, and the ACCO works hard to provide that as well. Childhood Cancer Awareness Month raises awareness, not just of the epidemic that is childhood cancer, but at the effect it has on the family that is fighting it right along with the child they love and cherish.
Statement by Warren Mayor Jim Fouts
“Living with cancer is a reality faced by thousands of children all over the U.S. Childhood Cancer Awareness Month reminds us that this is an ever growing epidemic, and that with the combined efforts of us all, there is something that can be done to prevent this horrible disease.”