Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in children under 15. One of every 330 persons in the United States will develop cancer before their 20th birthday. The median age of cancer diagnosis in children is six meaning that an entire lifetime is at risk. The cause of most childhood cancers are unknown. At present, childhood cancer cannot be prevented.
Childhood cancer cuts across all social, economic and ethnic differences.
Despite the advances in early detection and treatment, only two thirds of children diagnosed with cancer survive. Even though the majority of children's leukemias are now curable, mortality is still substantial among children with solid tumors. When you compare the federal research support allocated to each patient affiliated with AIDS, a child diagnosed with cancer is getting only one-sixth of it for every year of life saved. For every dollar spent on a patient with prostate cancer, less than 20 cents is spent on a child with cancer. Likewise a patient with breast cancer has triple the research resource allocated to her when compared to a child.