To The Moon and Back

Come on with me

We're going to fly away from here

Out of this curtained room and this hospital grey will just disappear

Come on with me

We're going to fly away

You were my best four years

It is nearly September already.

September is childhood cancer awareness month.

Whenever I mention it to anyone in my family I usually get the same responses.

"Yes it's sad, but we can't do much about it."

"Why are you so weirdly obsessive with this?"

Why is standing up for children who are sick important to me?

Because they are our future.

Who else is going to stand up for them?

No one likes to talk about the facts, and they brush them away like a they're some kind of dirty secret.

Childhood cancer is the lowest funded of all cancers.

Ronan Thompson is the most beautiful little boy I have ever seen.

The spunky little guy was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a cancer that affects children 5 and under.

He died just before his 4th birthday.

His mother Maya began a blog.

Taylor Swift stumbled across her blog, and eventually wrote a song about Ronan.

Ronan has been making headlines recently because Taylor invited his family to a recent concert and sang the song.

Each October I see so much out there for breast cancer, I see so much awareness for all sorts of different cancers.

I see nothing, absolutely nothing for childhood cancer.

It disgusts me.

Cancer took my best friend away.

She was 18.

The age of 18 is considered an adult, but if you really think about it, we are still children when we are 18. It's not a very old age at all.

There was a little boy named Jayson.

He was 10.

All he wanted was mail when he was told he didn't have much time left.

I wrote him a letter and sent him some pictures from my trip to Europe.

Just knowing that I put a smile on his face warms my heart.

I am in touch with his mother. The things I hear from her about her son's stories and how he was treated break my heart.

Just yesterday, a 15 year old boy in my hometown also lost his battle.

This is the cold harsh truth.

This is reality.

Children deserve awareness.

They deserve a cure.

It's so easy to shrug off but what if it were your child?

Below are statistics I have found.

Take a look at them.

 You can't tell me these sick children who are dying left and right are getting enough care and awareness.

-Childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded.

-In 20 years the FDA has initially approved only two drugs for any childhood cancer " 1/2 of all chemotherapies used for children’s cancers are over 25 years old.

-Research and development for new drugs from pharmaceutical companies comprises 60% of funding for adult cancer drugs and close to zero for childhood cancers.

-The NCI spends 96% of its budget on adult cancers and only 4% of its budget on children’s cancers.

-In dollar terms, NCI’s funding for pediatric clinical trials is $26.4 million while funding for AIDS research is $254 million, and breast cancer is $584 million.

-Pharmaceutical companies don’t commit resources to childhood cancer research because the adult cancer drug business is viewed as more profitable and less risky to them.

-Accordingly, there is an estimated $30 million a year gap in childhood cancer research funding.

- See more at: http://www.icareicure.org/get-informed/childhood-cancer-facts/#sthash.EAXrPEAg.dpuf

When September hits, wear the color gold.

These are our children.

Stand up for them.

Stand up to Cancer.

Spread the word in September.

They deserve so much more that what they are getting.

I love you to the moon and back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2OF1S3iSI

Reviews

[dan]

Thank you, Kathryn, for your commitment and dedication to this vastly under appreciated problem begging urgency. Thank you for providing these lovely young kids a voice, someone who is not deterred by constraints, who will shake the tree till all apples fall. Thank you for allowing WC readers to view the enormous love that fills your heart and mind. Thank you, Kathryn...I think Ronan approves. take care...dan

[cimmy wuv xxxooo]

very powerful and strong story. Makes quite the statement.
Theirs allot of things people don't take seriously enough, like depression, and some cancers.
This was heartfelt and deep, and the best part was in this piece you where giving a voice to these children.
Beautiful work, very well done.

[Coyote Poetry]

A powerful and needed story. Need to be expanded and read by more people. Cancer took two husbands of follow workers in last month. They were young men. I agree. Cancer need more attention. Can attack young or old.
Coyote

[AaronFreitas]

You are right when you say it doesn't get enough attention... I hardly have heard anything regarding this topic. I recently watched a documentary called The Human Experiment... really good if you haven't watched it. It covers a lot of chemicals that are in use in baby bottles, shampoos, food cans, plastics that we eat with and much more. It details increases in just about everything bad... I could just about bet there can be links found from untested and unsafe chemicals to the increase in childhood cancer. Awesome story and topic to write about :)

[wordman]

i love your passion on this matter,it`s in the food and drinks they force upon us,just like fluoride in water is a killer,poision in our food..i beleive they do it on purpose to lessen the population