September.

September. For some people September is just another month. Another month to celebrate a three day weekend, finish up fun summer plans, and start back to school. For me, this time last year I was one of those people. But this September is very very different for me. This September I will be advocating for childhood cancer.

I advocate for the kids who won’t get to go to school or finish summer plans because they are in treatments and stuck in the hospital. I fight for the kids who are celebrating from above and whose age is now a “forever” number. I fight for the kids who are in remission but go through daily challenges from chemo and radiation to their little bodies.

Who knew that a year would change me so much. My heart has been forever touched by pediatric cancer. My heart has been forever changed, forever missing a piece.

I fight for the nurses who spend every waking moment worrying about the babies we care for. The nurses who come in on their off days just to stop by and say hello or give their parents a break. I fight for the nurses so that we don’t have to watch these kids go through this.

I fight for not only the children this month, but for their moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends. Pediatric cancer is life changing for these families. They go from everyday normal life to constantly being in the hospital, fighting alongside their babies.

Every single day in America alone, 46 children are diagnosed with pediatric cancer. Of those 46 children one in five of them will die, and seven children die every day. And to think that only 4% of cancer research funding goes to kids. Kids who should be going to kindergarten. Kids who should be graduating high school or college. Kids who should be starting families of their own. These are facts, not opinions.

Everyone I have ever talked to has said “that will never happen to my child” or “I don’t know what I would do if it did happen to my child”. Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them. But it does. Every single day. 46 times every day to be more exact. So why not spread the word now? Why not advocate for these children who are fighting, have fought, and will fight.

September is childhood cancer awareness month and I will do my very best to make everyone become aware of the challenges these babies face. Fight for more than four. Fight for these kids.