It’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Week and here are 10 things you need to know about childhood cancer:
- In 2016, an estimated 10,380 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed.
- Of those 10,380, 1,250 deaths will occur among those children between birth and 14 years old.
- Mortality rates for childhood cancer (those aged birth to 14 years) have declined by 66% over the past four decades. The number has gone from 6.5 (per 100,000) in 1969 to 2.2 in 2012.
- Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the U.S.
- One in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they are 20 years old.
- More than 40,000 children undergo treatment for cancer each year.
- 60% of children who survive cancer suffer late-effects, such as infertility, heart failure and secondary cancers.
- Most common types of cancers that develop in children are: Leukemia, brain and other central nervous center tumors, Neuroblastoma, Wilms Tumor, Lymphoma (including Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin), Rhabdomyosarcoma, Retinoblastoma, and Bone cancer (including osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma)
- Leukemias account for about 30% of all cancers in children.
- Wilms Tumor is most often found in children about 3 to 4 years old, and is uncommon in children older than age 6.
To help raise support for childhood cancer please share a picture of your favorite childhood character on our Facebook (GradyNewsource) or our Twitter (@GradyNewsource).
By: Kendall Meissner
