Final signature count: 18,443

18,443 signatures toward our 30,000 goal

Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease past infancy among children in the United States¹.

It is estimated that more than 10,470 children in the United States under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer this year, a number that has been rising for the past few decades².

Children living with cancer often face great physical, social, psychological, and spiritual challenges, just to enjoy daily life³. Childhood cancer patients and their families experience overwhelming moments of aggression, anxiety, depression, and communicational problems⁴. Moreover, they must do it all while going through an often cold and uncomfortable treatment process, treatment complications, and many other care related problems.

The parents of children with cancer can experience shock or denial, and live with debilitating pressure as the disease leaves its stain on every aspect of family dynamic. This leads to a lower quality of life, more frequent hospital visits, overwhelming medical bills, and the constant fear that time is running out or that a relapse could occur⁵.

Children who live with cancer may fall years behind in school, and when given the opportunity to catch up, can be challenged by “chemo brain,” attentional and memory problems, hearing loss, and other physical issues related to disease⁶.

Currently, only 4% of the U.S. federal government’s funding for cancer research is allocated to childhood cancer⁷. This is a meager stream of support, and forces public healthcare institutions to put important studies on hold when funding is not available, sometimes having to wait until September, when donations come in for Childhood Cancer Awareness month.

Sign the petition and help us ask the federal government to increase budgetary allocation toward childhood cancer and enable researchers to diagnose cancer earlier, improve treatments and shorten the time spent in them, and save children’s lives!