Childhood Cancer Awareness

1 in 3 adults will develop some kind of cancer within their lifetime. In rare cases, children will develop cancers and in many cases these cancers are devastating. According to Cancer.net, only 1% of all diagnosed cancers fall within the childhood age range.

  • 29% of childhood cancers are that of Leukemia (ALL and AML).
  • 26% of childhood cancers are tumors of the brain and spinal cord

Other cancers that effect children include Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma, Kidney Tumors, Eye Tumors, soft tissue sarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, endocrine tumors, Bone Cancer, Thyroid cancer (more common in young adults) and many, many more.

For additional facts about Childhood Cancer, follow this link for a quick fact sheet (.pdf) on the Central Nervous System (CNS) of Childhood Cancers provided by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Cancer.net CNS Fact Sheet

For Gold Awareness Ribbon products, follow this link to our store! Childhood Cancer Awareness

10-Year-Old Dancer Continues to Dance

The heart of a dancer is that of a warrior who will continue to persevere in the face of battle. 10-year old Ava Blaser has been battling with cancer in her kidneys since she was 3. Even with chemotherapy, Ava continues to attend dance rehearsals and competitions. Chemotherapy puts much stress on the body and can leave the patient nauseated and physically exhausted. This does not stop Ava from achieving her dreams.

“[Dancing] gives me something to look forward to, like during treatment,” Blaser told CBS News.

The doctors treating her cancer are very hopeful that her cancer is curable. In 2012, Ava had undergone treatment and was declared cancer free; 6 years later, this January, Ava was informed the cancer had returned. Ava continues to push herself everyday to keep dancing and show the world she is a warrior and will not be put down. In her featured routine Ava removes a gold band from her costume to expose a gold cancer ribbon. She continues to dance with this band and ends her routine by throwing it. This is an excellent way to symbolize Ava battle and throwing the cancer away from her body as a fighter who will win this battle.

“It’s supposed to be, like me, like kind of, like, taking the cancer away from me and like fighting it away,”

No matter what we face in our lives, we must continue to enjoy our passions and push through. Whether its Cervical cancer, Leukemia, Breast cancer, Pancreatic caner, Lung cancer, Ovarian cancer, mental health, continue to enjoy the things in life that we have. The struggles we face will put us down and try to hold us back from seeing the light, but much like Ava Blaser, we must push ourselves and not let anything take away the light of joy we need in life.

Check out the CBSNews article with a short video to see Ava shine

Selfless Teen with Terminal Bone Cancer

A teen in Falls Church, Virginia, was diagnosed with a rare form of Bone Cancer. Timothy Bourbeau was approached by Make-A-Wish Foundation and made a selfless choice. He wanted to make the lives of other teens brighter by having Playstation 4s installed in their rooms at  the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital. Thank you, Timothy Bourbeau for helping brighten the days of other children! All of us at Awareness Products Warehouse with you safe travels to Florida.