Montana's Hope

Educating Families on Neuroblastoma

September is...

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 

September 13th is Childhood Cancer Awareness Day!  Please remember to wear your golden ribbons and show your support for Childhood Cancer Awareness.  Below are a few stats and facts that we would like to share with you.  If this is your first visit to Montana's Hope then we would like to welcome you with open arms and let you know that we have created this site to inform as many families as possible about Childhood Cancer with our main focus being on Neuroblastoma.  This site was created for Montana "Biscuit" who is a wonderful 3 year old little boy that is now in remission.  Praise God!  Montana's story is located at the bottom section of our home page. We have added a ribbon section so that you may identify which color of ribbon supports a certain form of cancer or meaning.  We hope that you will wear your GOLD RIBBON to show your support and awareness of Childhood Cancer.  Many types of ribbons are worn today so in order to assist you with ribbon awareness we have added a link to this page that will explain each ribbon color and the significance of that particular ribbon. For example, gold ribbons are the childhood cancer awareness ribbons, yellow ribbons support our troops and purple ribbons support cancer in general. We would like for you to take an opportunity and leave us your name and information in our guest book section as well.  Montana loves to hear from everyone who stop's by and drops him a note.  Last weekend we celebrated Montana's 3rd Birthday, holding back tears of joy our family realizes the long hard journey that lead us to this point and we are so very thankful and feel so very blessed that Montana is in remission!  We have added a new links page to our site this year.  Please feel free to visit any of our friends or foundations and let them know you heard about them from Montana's hope.  Thank you for taking the time to visit our site!  We hope you enjoy the information, photos and stories that we have to share with you today.  Check back often for updates on Montana's progress, upcoming scans, new links, etc.  Most important of all we would like to thank each and every one of you who have prayed for Montana.  We could not have reached this point without all the prayers and support that we have received.  A special thank you to all the staff (family) at Riley Hospital located in Indianapolis, IN. 

p.s. Nancy and Mike are Montana's parents.  I have never in my life met two people who are so involved in fighting for their child, staying strong when they had so many chances to fall apart and never complaining about anything.  Both of these individuals are close to me and I hold them dear in my heart.  Thank you both for being the parents that you are to Montana and staying strong during this difficult time.  I was so happy to have celebrated his birthday last week with you both.  I am proud to know and love you both!  Crystal

        

 Childhood Cancer Stats and Facts

September 13th is the day to remember all children who are fighting or who have fought the fight against cancer! 

We have listed here a section on facts and stats.  Cancer in children is more common that most people realize.  Childhood cancers behave very differently than adult cancers and the survival statistics are not as promising.

Did you know? Cancer is the number one killer of children by disease. It is the second leading cause of all childhood deaths exceeded only by
accidents!   You can find additional faq's and stat's on the "September is..." page located on Montana's site!  You can also access the Care2 page and sign the petition for Childhood Cancer Awareness Postage Stamps to be made. 

September is Childhood Cancer Awarness Month!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Childhood Cancer Stats and Facts.  Site Awareness Links located at bottom of page.  Don't forget to sign the postage stamp petition!

September 13th is the day to remember all children who are fighting or who have fought the fight against cancer! 

We have listed here a section on facts and stats.  Cancer in children is more common that most people realize. Childhood
cancers behave very differently than adult cancers and the survival
statistics are not as promising. The five year SURVIVAL rate is only 80%.
Furthermore, the incidence of
childhood cancer seems to be increasing.

* -Cancer is the number one killer of children by disease. It is
the second leading cause of all childhood deaths exceeded only by
accidents.

* -One in 330 children will develop cancer before the age of 20.

* -On average, 46 children are diagnosed with cancer every day in
the United States.

*over 10,700 new cases of Pediatric cancer will be diagnosed in the year 2008

* -Each year, about 3,000 children die from cancer - more than
from asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, and
pediatric AIDS combined.

* -Only about 20% of adults with cancer show evidence that the
disease has spread to distant sites on the body at diagnosis yet 80%
of children are diagnosed with advanced disease.

* -In the past 20 years only one new cancer drug has been approved
for pediatric use.

* -Only 3 % of the budget from the National Cancer Institute goes
towards Pediatric Cancer research. (That's 3 % for ALL kinds of Pediatric Cancers combined!)

* -The incidence of childhood cancer is increasing. The cause of
this is unknown.

* -Pediatric cancer funding is nominal in comparison to other more
publicized diseases such as pediatric AIDS or juvenile diabetes which
increases awareness each year.

* -Most adult cancers result from lifestyle factors such as
smoking, diet, occupation, and exposure to cancer-causing agents. The
cause of most childhood cancers in unknown. 

* -Approximately 70% of children with cancer participate in
research trials compared to only 3% of adult cancer patients. As a
result, many of the advances in adult cancer treatments are due to
breakthroughs in childhood cancer research.
The children are essentially being used as the test subjects for adults.

* -The government recently CUT the budget for Childhood Cancer research.      * -As a nation, we spend $14 BILLION per year on the space
program, but only $35 MILLION on childhood cancer research per year

  • Childhood cancer is not a single disease, but rather many different types that fall into 12 major categories. Common adult cancers are extremely rare in children, yet many cancers are almost exclusively found in children.
  • Childhood Cancers are cancers that primarily affect children, teens, and young adults. When cancer strikes children and young adults it affects them differently than it would an adult.
  • Attempts to detect childhood cancers at an earlier stage, when the disease would react more favorably to treatment, have largely failed. Young patients often have a more advanced stage of cancer when first diagnosed. (Approximately 20% of adults with cancer show evidence the disease has spread, yet almost 80% of children show that the cancer has spread to distant sites at the time of diagnosis).
  • Cancer in childhood occurs regularly, randomly, and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region.
  • The cause of most childhood cancers are unknown and at present, cannot be prevented. (Most adult cancers result from lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, occupation, and other exposure to cancer-causing agents).
  • One in every 330 Americans will develop cancer by the age of 20. On the average, 12,500 children and adolescents in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer each year.
  • On the average, 1 in every 4 elementary school has a child with cancer. The average high school has two students who are a current or former cancer patient. In the U.S., about 46 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every weekday.
  • While the cancer death rate has dropped more dramatically for children than for any other age group, 2,300 children and teenagers will die each year from cancer.
  • Childhood leukemia (making up the largest group of childhood cancers) was once a certain death sentence, but now can be cured almost 80% of the time.
  • Today, up to 75% of the children with cancer can be cured, yet, some forms of childhood cancers have proven so resistant to treatment that, in spite of research, a cure is illusive.
  • Several childhood cancers continue to have a very poor prognosis, including: brain stem tumors, metastatic sarcomas, relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

 

 

Additional Websites Supporting Childhood Cancer Awarness Month!

Riley Children's Hospital     Indianapolis, IN

CONGRATULATIONS RILEY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL!  VOTED AMERICA'S BEST CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL 2008 PER US NEWS & WORLD.

Riley Children’s Hospital is the hospital in which Montana received his treatment.  Riley is located in Indianapolis, IN.  We would like to thank the staff for all that they have done for our family!  Also, a big CONGRATS to Riley Children’s Hospital who was voted best American children’s hospital in 2008.  *Per US News and World Report.  Way to go Riley!  http://rileychildrenshospital.com/

  Cure Search

The objective of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is to spotlight childhood cancer and survivorship issues related to childhood cancer nationally. CureSearch is dedicated to leading the way in advocacy and fundraising for childhood cancer research and awareness.

Please visit Cure Search for additional information:  http://www.curesearch.org/

 

Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation

The purpose of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is to bring attention to childhood cancer and survivorship issues across the continent. Candlelighters asks its members and friends to contact local media outlets to bring these matters to the attention of the press. Although it has historically been hard to get articles about childhood cancer in newspapers and magazines, we think that personalized letters from parents in individual communities might help turn the tide.  From this site you can download a Microsoft Office letter template that can be completed and submitted to local news sources for assistance in raising awarness of childhood cancer.  Please follow this link for additional information. Candlelighters Cancer Awarness Web Page:  http://www.candlelighters.org/septchildhoodcancermonth.stm

 

 

                                                    

 

Childhood Cancer Awarness Postage Stamp Petition

Childhood Cancer Awareness Postage Stamp Petition

One of the most recent activities is to create a US postage stamp for childhood cancer awareness. Please write to your US Representative. Or you can sign the petition by following this link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/childhood-cancer-awareness-postage-stamp  Please take a moment of your time and sign the petition!

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