Kids Get Cancer Too!
May 19, 2009 by admin
Last month, I had the privilege of meeting Mimi Avery at our Relay For Life event. Mimi is one of the most courageous and inspirational women I have ever met. She has been through an ordeal that no parent ever wants to go through. Last year after a 10 month battle, she lost her handsome 4 year old son to cancer. She could have let Julian’s passing destroy her. But that has not happened. She is a fighter. She is determined to raise Childhood Cancer Awareness. Something must be done to save our children.
Mimi posted the following note on Facebook yesterday. She is pleading for everyone to help her raise Childhood Cancer Awareness.
Feel free to copy this and send it to the media. Blog about it. Twitter about it. Post this on Facebook. Email this link to your friends, family, and coworkers. Spread the word. I urge you to please help us raise awareness.
Our children are dying… What will you do about it?
Please feel free to copy and send to the media . Please DO IT!
I am a 34 year old mother of 4 boys. I wish I could have stated 4 “healthy” boys there…
Six months before diagnosis
Unfortunately, one of them was diagnosed with cancer on March 13th 2007, 2 months short of being 4 years old. A golf ball sized tumor was removed from his brain and was proved cancerous. My son had become a cancer patient at age 4. Radiations, chemo, MRIs, Spinal taps, Bone marrow aspiration…Our daily lives… Until, after given a 75 to 80% chance at a cure, Julian relapsed, then a couple of months later put on hospice and eventually died on January 19, 2008.
The thing is, Julian is NOT an isolated case. 12,500 children are diagnosed each year (around 35 per day ) in the USA with some form of childhood cancer (brain tumors, bone cancer, soft tissues cancer , blood cancer, central nervous system cancer. Each of these can all be divided into more specific groups.) About 3,000 children die every year from any of those. That is about 8 children per day. So far this year 1,100 children have died of childhood cancer in the US alone… Our children are dying …
During treatment
What we , as cancer parents, wonder is WHEN we will see this horror be acknowledged by the media, when will CNN ‘s headlines be about the kids … I, we , want to read , one day, as national headlines :”KIDS GET CANCER TOO !!!” , we want to see awareness spread everywhere , GOLD for every one to see…
The children are our future. We HAVE to save them … Why do we not see the media get involved? Are they worried about scaring parents of healthy children? Maybe… Do they not want to write about one sadder story? Probably … But THIS is reality.
People NEED to know. We don’t have a choice but live it every day. I have seen my child go from being a happy healthy little guy to him being paralyzed from the neck down, then in a coma, and then gone in less than a year. I watched him take his last breaths gasping for air until the last second. I held my 4 year-old’s lifeless body as did his 10 year old brother. And again, Julian is only one of 3,000 children who died to cancer in 2008.
One week before Heaven
Between May 2nd and May 13th, I went to the celebrations of life of 4 little boys (age 4 and under) FOUR!! In 10 days! And with each little one I kissed goodnight, my anger grew… And with each friend I see walking behind a tiny casket, my hope fades…
When is this going to be a story “big” enough for someone to share it with the world? When will it be enough children being diagnosed or becoming angels for someone to realize things MUST change?
Don’t make us pray for one of your children to get sick to have your attention. Do something! If you need stories to back up all this, we have stories, hundreds, thousands of them; you just have to ask …
And remember , KIDS GET CANCER TOO and it could be your child … Maybe not today , or tomorrow , but if it happens , hopefully someone will have stepped up to the plate and childhood cancer wont be such a scary thing anymore…
Mimi Avery ( 05-18-2009)
You will NEVER be forgotte
If you would like to make a donation in memory of Julian, please visit CureSearch, National Childhood Cancer Foundation.
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2 Responses to “Kids Get Cancer Too!”
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I always hate hearing about anyone with cancer but when it comes to kids and cancer it breaks my heart even more. Reading this brought tears to my eyes. As a mom to a 10 year old boy I can’t imagine having to go through the loss of my child. I’m always amazed to hear stories of people that have turned something terrible into something good, always finding a way to reach out and do something about what they went through to help someone else.
Hi,my name is Gwen and I can definatley feel your pain.I Iost my 5 year old daughter to cancer on 6-05-09. She had been battling cancer for 3 years. She had clear cell sarcoma.I really watched her die the same way your son did. Ebony was my only child.It feels like my heart is broken into a million pieces. I agree with you Child hood cancer needs to be reconized.I am from Rockymount ,NC