Being that this month is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, I have found that it is important to highlight some of the realities that exist about this issue and how we, as regular people, are able to really make a difference.

• One in 330 children will develop cancer by age 20.
• Each school day, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer.
• Leukemias, which are cancers of the bone marrow and tissues which produce the circulating blood cells, are the most common childhood cancers.
• Of those, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer. Almost 75% of children with leukemia have ALL, a cancer of the lymphoid cells in the bone marrow and the lymphoid organs of the body. They are involved in the body’s immune system.
• According to researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a cure rate of 90% for ALL in the near future is quite possible if we continue to incorporate the breakthroughs of past decades and successfully overcome the remaining challenges. As a matter of reference- In 1962 only 4% of children with ALL survived.
• More than 12,500 children under the age of 15 in the United States are diagnosed with cancer annually.
• Cancer remains the number one disease killer of America's children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined.

Personally, cancer is a topic and a challenge that is very personal for myself. At the age of six, I lost my Mother to Cervical Cancer. She was only 26 years old at the time.

The unique and positive thing that I believe that we are able to gain from researching and fighting childhhod cancer and cancer as a whole, from the standpoint of an average person, is that there are few issues or causes where we are able to simultaniously see the benefits of awareness and support (the increased rates of survival), as well as the continued need for education and research (still no cure, and still the #1 disease killer for children.)

Besides the fact that this is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, more specifically, September 13th is now recognized as "National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day" as a result of a Senate resolution introduced by U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).

On that day I will share a story that is extremely moving, inspirational, and directly related to the work that we at TheWorkmanshipGroups are dedicated to.

****statistics were found at Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation (CCCF)  and CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation