Ronan. Riley. Micah. Emma Grace. Georgia. Ezra. Layla. Kayne. Noah. Desi. The list goes on and on. In fact, if I named an accurate amount of children, it would be over 40 kids in America alone every single day for as long as I can remember.
Every day in America, over 40 kids are diagnosed with cancer. Kids that won't play on the playground like they used to, that won't ever blow bubbles the same way, that won't get to grow up and live a normal life—if one at all. I feel myself choke back tears as I put that fact into words.
You see, I see that fact in action every week at the children's hospital, where I visit children with cancer for a short time, only living a very small portion of their horrific reality. I've met babies, elementary age kids, pre-teens, and even young adults about to graduate high school. That's the thing about childhood cancer—it doesn't discriminate. It shows no mercy to the 5-year-old girl about to start kindergarten, and none to the 17-year-old boy who was supposed to be getting his cap and gown pictures soon, either.
I know when many people see these bald children, they think "aww how cute...that's sad." But when a child is too weak to get out of bed to play with their toys, and too depressed to eat dinner for over a week, I know it's so much more than just sad or just cute bald heads. And while it is very sad, it's even more sad to know how much our government doesn't recognize them. The national cancer institute donates approximately 4 percent of their funding to pediatric cancer research.
I won't waste time bashing organizations in this article because other things constantly overshadow childhood cancer and it's time we talk about what we can change right here, right now. Instead, I'll invite you to wear gold proudly during the month of September, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. And after all, their lives are worth more than gold. I'll invite you to share the statistics above, and to proudly rock a gold ribbon, because some kid somewhere will never get to go back to school or play with their friends again. Some kid somewhere will never get to grow up and have their own kids. Some parent somewhere is grieving the loss of their child. Some parent somewhere is shaking crying in fear because of their child's cancer diagnosis. Some kid right in your own community could be diagnosed with cancer, and you too will become so painfully aware that childhood cancer is not rare or only in St. Jude commercials.
I'm going gold in September because being a voice for children fighting cancer is a hard, but important thing to do. I'm going gold because I got to push a child with cancer on the swing the other day, and holding their IV pole while they were swinging shouldn't have happened. I'm going gold because the NCI only views children with cancer as worthy of 4 percent, but I know they're worth 96 more percent of our time than that. I'm going gold because anyone could recognize a pink ribbon, but few recognize a gold. I'm going gold because a child's life is worth more than gold. Will you?
In the 82 minutes it took me to write this article, 23 children somewhere in the world have been forever changed by pediatric cancer. It isn't rare. Please visit acco.org, curesearch.org, thetruth365.org to learn more facts, or visit www.rileysarmy.com, theronanthompsonfoundation.org, becauseofezra.org, or alexslemonade.org to make donation/difference in a child's life.
