Childhood cancer Facts - The Carson Leslie Foundation

Incidence of Childhood cancer

Each year around 15,780 children are diagnosed with cancer in the US
One in every 285 Americans develops cancer before the age of twenty.
On the average, 36 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer everyday in the United States (around 46 per school day).
On the average, one in every four elementary schools has a child with cancer. The average high school has two students who are current or former cancer patients.
The incidence of invasive pediatric cancers is up 29% in the past 20 years.
The causes of most childhood cancers are unknown. At present, childhood cancer cannot be prevented.
Childhood cancer occurs regularly, randomly and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region.
35,000 children are currently in treatment for cancer.

cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the United States.
1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer will die within 5-years
1 in 3 children diagnosed with cancer will not live-out a normal life-span (excess mortality)
Some pediatric brain tumors, such as brain stem gliomas and pontine gliomas, are terminal upon diagnosis and no new protocols have been developed in 30 years.
Many pediatric cancers, including neuroblastoma and disseminated medulloblastoma, are terminal upon progression or recurrence.
The average age of death for a child with cancer is 8, causing a child to lose 69 years of expected life.
More children die of cancer every year than adults died in 9/11.
Childhood cancers affect more potential patient-years of life than any other cancer except breast and lung cancer.
cancer kills more children than AIDs, asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and congenital anomalies combined.

74% of childhood cancer survivors have chronic illnesses, and some 40% of childhood cancer survivors have severe illnesses or die from such illnesses.
Childhood cancer survivors are at significant risk for secondary cancers later in life.
cancer treatments can affect a child’s growth, fertility, and endocrine system. Child survivors may be permanently immunologically suppressed.
Radiation to a child’s brain can significantly damage cognitive function, or if radiation is given at a very young age, limiting the ability to read, do basic math, tell time or even talk.
Physical and neurocognitive disabilities resulting from treatment may prevent childhood cancer survivors from fully participating in school, social activities and eventually work, which can cause depression and feelings of isolation.
Childhood cancer survivors have difficulty getting married and obtaining jobs, health and life insurance.