September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month—as if consideration of children with cancer (or any disease) and their families should (or could) be limited to a single month. I get it. We try to give special focus to specific diseases that afflict children and adults—and we try to share the calendar.
There is no childhood disease that is easy on a child or the family. Cancer, however, is especially difficult.
I am late in sharing my thoughts on Childhood Cancer Awareness, but at a friend’s request, I am going to try my best. I say “try”, because I no direct experience. We can watch from the periphery as families struggle; we can offer support; and we can contribute (as we should) foundations that support research and children battling cancer; but we can only begin to understand the struggle. We can only imagine the hurt they feel and know that these are wounds that never heal.
I want to say something to my friends who have faced the struggle, but I know that there is nothing I can say or do that will help. In the last few years, I have had several friends from high school who lost their lovely sons to brain cancer. I never felt more helpless than when I struggled to offer some amount of comfort.
No amount of love can replace the love that was lost. All I could during their struggle was to love the best I know how and to hold my own children just a bit more tightly. It reminded me of the importance of living in the moment–carpe momento!
We can hope for the best and pray for the children and families while the child undergoes treatment. At best our support can be minimal. What we can do to best help is to support research. According to the National Cancer Institute, “In the United States in 2017, an estimated 10,270 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed among children from birth to 14 years, and about 1,190 children are expected to die from the disease.” Most common are leukemia, brain cancers, central nervous system tumors, and lymphomas (www.cancer.gov/types/childhood-cancers).
Sadly, the money for research is limited. Contributing to the fight to prevent another child from suffering is the best we can do.
For the families in the heart of the fight, your emotional support can be as beneficial as the financial (and it is an expensive burden) support.
For the children? Help them have the best childhood they can under the circumstances. I particularly like the work of Chelsea’s Closet. The Chelsea Hick’s Foundation here in Oregon provides costumes for monthly dress up parties for seriously ill children in local hospitals (http://www.chelseahicksfoundation.org/chelseas-closet/). Help provide wigs—there are numerous organizations that support this. Above all things, kids need to have as much fun as they can.
Joey and Christopher, the sons my friends lost, taught me a lot in their short live. Despite the obvious pain they experienced, they always had big, broad, infectious smiles. They showed me that despite the suffering in the world, life is to be lived to the fullest. Not a moment of life is to be wasted. Celebrate every moment.
If you are so inclined, give a gift to help prevent such loss for future families. I have seen too many families face the battle with cancer in their precious children, so my heart tends there. If you have nowhere to give, consider giving in memory of Joey and Christopher: