I lost my 14 yr old niece last year to Lymphoma....she was diagnosed and 5 months later to the day she passed away because there was nothing they could do to help her. To have the doctors tell you there is nothing to do...no meds to help...they are sending your child home to die....it is wrong. She kept asking why me, did I do something wrong? Kept saying I am afraid to die....why can't I fight this cancer, I have tried so hard....it was absolutely heartbreaking to watch. Unfortunately this happens all too often. Please if you could help....just take a moment to sign this petition to raise awareness for childhood cancer research...

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/CureChildhoodCancer

Thank you so much..... following are some disturbing facts for you....

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DID YOU KNOW?

* In the U.S. almost 3000 children die from cancer each year, more than from asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, and pediatric AIDS combined.

* Cancer is the number one cause of death (after accidents) for children between ages of 1-19.

*1 in 330 will be diagnosed with cancer by age 20.

*The incidence of childhood cancer has increased EVERY year for the last 25 years!

* In the past 25 years ONLY ONE new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use. Since children can handle much more chemo than adults, most treatments are little more than mega doses of adult cancer chemotherapy treatments. The result of these high doses of chemo on children is a higher rate of secondary cancers. For reasons not fully known, teenagers experience the highest rate of secondary cancers as a result of the high dose chemotherapy treatments.

*A 5-year study at Children's Hospital Pittsburgh of UPMC recently concluded that teenage cancer survivorship is lower due in part to a lack of access to clinical trials. They concluded: "Patients who are enrolled in clinical trials offering the most advanced cancer treatments do better than patients who receive conventional treatment. Adolescents and young adults with cancer are less likely than younger children to be enrolled in clinical trials."

*At the time of diagnosis in children, the cancer has already spread in 80% of the cases. That is compared to the 20% in adults.

*Young adults aged 15-22 have the lowest cancer survival rate of any age group.

*Teenagers are extremely under represented in clinical trials for cancer, especially the 15-19 age group. They tend to be excluded from both childhood and adult cancer studies due to their age.

* September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month, which nationally goes largely unrecognized.

*Currently there are between 30-40,000 children being treated for cancer in the US.

*As a nation, we spend $14 BILLION per year on the space program, but only $35 MILLION on childhood cancer research per year.

* The National Cancer Institutes federal budget is about $5 Billion. Less than 3% of the budget goes towards all pediatric cancers combined. The rest goes toward adult cancers. Breast cancer alone receives 12%. Prostate cancer receives 7%.

*The government recently cut the budget for Childhood Cancer Research!