More Childhood Cancer Awareness

Here is a very touching You tube video about Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I hope that you will take the time to watch it. Thankfully the Conquer Childhood Cancer Bill was passed and recently signed by President Bush.

Amanda's mom Connie went to Washington DC in June to lobby congress to pass the bill. It is a start but there is so much more that needs to be done to spread awareness and raise funds for research. Click here to see the Candlelighters newsletter that has an article titled Mrs. Bunch Goes to Washington, which tells the story of Connie's trip to DC.

This is just so important to me. I wish there were gold ribbons everywhere. I wish that no more innocent children have to die from cancer. I hope that this video gives you an understanding of what I am so passionate about.

Until next time,

Jaime

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I bet most of you didn't know that. I didn't know that until cancer struck our family. I have posted before about my cousin Amanda that passed away from leukemia in 2006. She was only 18 years old. She was amazing and is my inspiration to tell people about childhood cancer.

The symbol for childhood cancer is the gold ribbon. It is unfortunate that there aren't more gold ribbons on products to bring awareness to childhood cancer. I am not putting down the pink ribbon by any means. But I wish that the gold ribbon was on half the amount of products the pink ribbon is on. Maybe then more people would be aware of the devastating toll cancer takes on the families of these brave children.

Here are some childhood cancer facts that I got from the cure search website:

In the US, cancer remains responsible for more deaths from one year through adolescence than any other disease; more deaths than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined.

Forty-Six children, or two classrooms of students, are diagnosed with cancer every day in the United States.

Approximately 12,500 are diagnosed with cancer each year.

About one is 300 boys and one in 333 girls will develop cancer before the age of 20.

The incidence of childhood cancer peaks in the first year of life.

Leukemias, tumors of the brain and nervous system, the lymphatic system, kidneys, bones and muscles are the most common childhood cancers.

1 child out of 5 who is diagnosed with cancer dies.

3 out of 5 children suffer from long-term side effects.

The average age of a child diagnosed with cancer is six years old; saving the life of a child with cancer gives our children a future; approximately, 66 years of life's milestones and dreams to celebrate.

I plan on doing a couple more posts on this subject because it is so close to my heart. I am very passionate about this because I don't think anyone deserves to feel the pain that losing a child brings. It is heartbreaking.

Until next time,
Jaime

^Angel Amanda^

Today would have been my cousin Amanda's 20th Birthday. Amanda was an amazing and inspiring person. She had a passion for helping other's and absolutely adored her little cousins. She loved music and played the flute beautifully. Amanda was a fighter and will forever be my hero.

My sweet cousin passed away on December 30, 2006. Amanda was diagnosed with AML (leukemia) in January 2006. She fought so hard and even had a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately the leukemia was too strong and almost 100 days after transplant the leukemia returned. With no other options left Amanda came home and enjoyed every minute left with family and friends. I have never known someone with so much courage. I will forever miss Amanda.

The experience of watching Amanda fight this "beast" made an impact on me. I knew about pediatric cancer before but watching someone so close to me battle this disease made me more aware of how badly there needs to be more done to fight cancer. Of all the cancer research funding only 1% goes to pediatric cancers. Right now Amanda's Mom Connie is in Washington D.C. to show support and the need for more money for pediatric cancer research. The Conquer Childhood Cancer Act was voted on and passed but still has some hurdles to make before it is put into action. Connie and other parents are there from all over the country to share their stories and the stories of other families to show how important it is to receive more funding. I am so proud of Connie to have the strength to go across the country and honor Amanda in this way.

Amanda needed a bone marrow transplant to try to cure the leukemia. A stranger that was on the bone marrow registry was contacted and made the decision to be the donor for Amanda. This person was unselfish in their decision to help save a life. After thinking about it I decided to join the bone marrow registry in memory of Amanda. It was simple to join. All it took was four simple cheek swabs with a q-tip and a medical questionnaire. There is a 1 in 200 chance of being a potential match for someone. There is a chance there will be several potential matches for a recipient, or there is the chance of being the only possible match. I felt compelled to join the registry because what if I am the one person that could help save someone else's life. I want to do this so much. I truly hope and pray that someday I get that call. It is true that there will be some inconvenience and possibly pain involved, but I feel it would be totally worth it. I want to save a life in memory of Amanda.

If you are interested or just want more information about being a bone marrow donor you can go to http://www.marrow.org/. If you would like to check out a website with links to many other children that are currently fighting cancer or have lost their battle you can go to http://www.asherandjacobsfriends.com/. Amanda had a caringbridge site that was used during her fight. You can visit her site at http://www.caringbridge.com/visit/amandabunch.

Happy 20th Birthday Amanda! We all miss you and love you so much!

Until next time,
Jaime