It is Time to End it
I hope that there is day that cancer is just a zodiac sign. We all knew someone who has or had cancer in in our lives. Cancer takes a toll on the families lives and it is devastating on the patient. No one should ever have this disease, especially a child. Every year roughly fifteen thousand kids a year will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States of America.(“Childhood Cancer Statistics”). In a perfect world this number will be zero, but this isn't a perfect world.
You can only do so much to help these kids. Some major ways is to give donations to children's hospitals such as Cleveland Clinic, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, and so much more. However there are some organizations and schools that are taking a different rout to help kids get through their fight. These organizations and schools are making or collecting hats to give to kids who are battling cancer. They are also trying to get the families and patients mind off of this terrible disease.
An organization based out of Saint Louis, Missouri called, Friends of Kids with Cancer. According to their website, their main goal is that they want kids to be kids and not have to worry about having cancer (“helping Kids with”). This organization fears that these kids are losing their childhood to this disease. Friends is such an important and unique charity because it gives back something that medicine can’t. The website describes their program, The Educational, Emotional and Recreational programs build self-esteem and improve the quality of life to assure that the patients and their families remain positive, focused and prepared to meet their future needs (“helping Kids with”). This organization organizes fun and family friendly events that raises money to help kids families and the local children's hospital in St. Louis.
There was a day that students at Oregon Health and Science University gathered together to make a change in their neighborhood. These kids worked effortlessly to make homemade hats and headbands to give to a local children's hospital by their campus. On the OHSU website, on October 26, 2014 a group of students at Oregon Health and Science University and other clubs on campus gathered to help families and kids who are battling childhood cancer. OHSU Student Nurses Association Klamath Falls Secretary, Aletta Mannix, said the association raised $374 earlier this year to purchase materials for Golden Hope, a project to create flowered headbands and knitted hats for children with cancer ("Students craft hats,"). The group hopes to donate one hundred of each to Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital in Portland in mid-February ("Students craft hats,"). A local newspaper interviewed them about their experience and all them said that they had a great time and really enjoyed it. These kids are taking their time to help kids in the local area. It is great that they want to help and make a difference.
Children's Cancer Research Fund is an organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This fund donates all of there money to the University of Minnesota to help kids with cancer survive. Also with this money they also find new cures then they spread to other children's hospitals. On their website it says, with this fund they developed and manufactured a brain tumor vaccine that is getting prepared for clinical trials. This vaccine shows promise to increase survival rates and provide treatments with fewer side effects (“Ways to Help”). This vaccine is a huge step into finding a cure for childhood cancer. Hopefully this vaccine will lead to more cures for cancer. The website also said, with help of people donating money to the Cancer Research Fund the university is allowed to find more cures and improvements every day (“Ways to Help”). This fund also wants people to volunteer to help them with events and help them find new people to donate to their cause. According to their website, the fund so far help over three hundred thousand kids survive cancer (“Ways to Help”). And that number is on the rise everyday. This fund wants to help kids beat cancer and have a childhood we all got to experience.
Here in our own backyard, there is an organization called Ellie’s Hats. According to the Ellie's Hats website, Ellie’s Hats works throughout the year to raise awareness of childhood cancer, and especially during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (Jay). Ellie’s Hats started as a small organization out of South Riding, Virginia. At first it was just helping kids in the Northern Virginia area getting through the chemotherapy and beyond that sadly these kids have to go through. Ellie’s Hats gives hats to these kids. To most people it is just a hat, but to them it gives them company when they are doing chemotherapy. These hats also are a symbol for the families. It shows them that they aren't fighting alone. Now there is at least one Ellie’s Hats representative in every state including the District of Columbia. What started as a small organization from a small town in Virginia, is now a huge organization that has at least one representative in every state.
I had the opportunity to interview my neighbor, Jay Coakly. Jay is the person who came up with the idea to make Ellie’s Hats. I asked him why he started Ellie’s Hats, and he told me this story. “I was a teacher at that time at Woodburn Elementary School in Falls Church and one of his students was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the spring of 2013. This child's name was Ellie. By the time she entered kindergarten, that fall, she had lost most of her hair so she was wearing hats to school everyday. The hats allowed Ellie to express her personality. So I made a small hat drive at the school and it ended up turning into something huge”. Ellie finished treatment in July 2015 and is now having her blood tested every month. Ellie played soccer this past spring and continues to improve (Jay). By the power of social media more and more people started to know what Ellie’s Hats was and what their goal was. Jay said that now pro teams are now involved with Ellie’s Hats like the Capitals, Nationals, and the Washington Redskins. These pro teams have multiple games that they ask fans and employees to donate new hats to give to Ellie’s Hats.
My family had a lot of experience with cancer. Around five years ago a very close friend of my mom past away from cancer. She had cancer twice. This past year my aunt had breast cancer and is still fighting this day. Last year during the lacrosse season the varsity team played a game for a kid who has cancer. His name was Dom, and he was five years old. That whole week was dedicated to him and his family. We held fundraisers and all of the ticket sales was given to the hospital he was going too. Seeing him fight everyday when he was out on that field with us really got to me. It opened a whole other world to me that made me want to do something to help these kids and their families.
At the end of the past summer, I organized a hat drive and a crayon drive to benefit local kids who are battling cancer. When I was starting this I thought I was only going to get at least twenty hats and a few boxes of crayons. By the end of this hat drive I had over fifty hats and sixty boxes of crayons. I was really shocked and glad that there are people out there that want to help our neighbors who are battling for their lives. I got a lot of local recognition on the Freedom Lacrosse page on The Facebook and here at my high school, Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia. I really enjoyed doing this hat drive and I hoped that I inspired others to do the same. By the end of this school year I hope to have completed yet another hat drive for capstone. I hope wherever I go to college, the administration there will let me continue running hat drives throughout college.
My opinion is that no one should ever go through all of the treatments that come with having cancer, especially children. Kids are the future of this nation and they should have the opportunity to have a childhood without having to worry about cancer. Unfortunately this isn't a perfect world. Thousand of kids have to fight everyday to make sure that they can have a childhood when they beat cancer. It is amazing that these kids go through so much and they never have a frown on their faces.
In my mind a perfect community helps their neighbors even if they don't know them. I did a hat drive because I wanted to not because I had to. I wanted to make sure everyone felt welcomed and cared for in our community. No one should fight alone. The national government isn’t helping as much as they should. Maybe if the national government wasn't arguing and not listening to the people who elected them, we may be funding pediatric cancer more than we are now.
The funding for pediatric cancer clinical trials has gone down every year since 2003, and is currently twenty six million four thousand dollars per year from the national government (“Childhood Cancer”). Compared to the budget that was given to NASA was nineteen billion three hundred thousand dollars (“Writer”).Keep in mind that we don't use NASA to go in space anymore. We only rely on them to find new things in space and they rent out their launch pads to a third party organization like Space-X. Now imagine that the budget for childhood cancer was at four trillion dollars instead of twenty six million four thousand dollars per year. With that money we might have found the cure for childhood cancer, and probably cancer in general.
A community isn’t just your neighbors, it is also the whole state, nation, and the world. In my lifetime I truly believe that I will see the day that we found the cure for all cancers. But this day will only come if we all work together to help and raise our voices to end childhood cancer. I just did a small thing like running a hat drive, but to those kids it means the whole world to them. That hat could get them through all of the chemotherapy they sadly have to go through. Every year my family gives money to St Jude Children's Research Hospital to make sure that those families don't have to pay a single penny while their loved one is fighting a fight that no one should be in. I believe that more people will step in and help our neighbors fight, like those kids at OHSU, or Jay from Ellie’s Hats. I'm just a kid from Northern Virginia who ran a hat drive to make sure that no one fights alone. There will be a day that cancer is just a zodiac sign.
Works Cited
"Childhood Cancer Statistics." CureSearch for Children's Cancer. N.p., n.d. https://curesearch.org/Childhood-Cancer-Statistics. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.
"Childhood Cancer: Where's The Money?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 Sept. 2008. https://www.forbes.com/2008/09/11/pediatric-cancer-philanthropy-oped-cx_hj_0912jonsen.html. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
"Helping Kids with Cancer...Be Kids!" Friends of Kids with Cancer | Helping Kids with Cancer Be Kids. N.p., n.d. https://www.friendsofkids.com/. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
Jay. "Home." Ellie's Hats.Jay/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Ellies-Hats-Logo-Header.png, 06 Jan. 2017. https://ellieshats.org/. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
"Students craft hats, headbands for kids with cancer." Oregon Health & Science University.N.p.,n.d.http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-nursing/about/news-events/crafts-for-cancer-2014.cfm. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
"Ways to Help." Children's Cancer Research Fund. N.p.,
n.d.<http://www.childrenscancer.org/main/ways_to_help/>. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
Writer, Sarah Lewin Staff. "NASA's 2017 Budget Request: Reactions from Space Industry Experts, Lawmakers." Space.com. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.space.com/31886-nasa-2017-budget-request-reactions.html. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
I hope that there is day that cancer is just a zodiac sign. We all knew someone who has or had cancer in in our lives. Cancer takes a toll on the families lives and it is devastating on the patient. No one should ever have this disease, especially a child. Every year roughly fifteen thousand kids a year will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States of America.(“Childhood Cancer Statistics”). In a perfect world this number will be zero, but this isn't a perfect world.
You can only do so much to help these kids. Some major ways is to give donations to children's hospitals such as Cleveland Clinic, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, and so much more. However there are some organizations and schools that are taking a different rout to help kids get through their fight. These organizations and schools are making or collecting hats to give to kids who are battling cancer. They are also trying to get the families and patients mind off of this terrible disease.
An organization based out of Saint Louis, Missouri called, Friends of Kids with Cancer. According to their website, their main goal is that they want kids to be kids and not have to worry about having cancer (“helping Kids with”). This organization fears that these kids are losing their childhood to this disease. Friends is such an important and unique charity because it gives back something that medicine can’t. The website describes their program, The Educational, Emotional and Recreational programs build self-esteem and improve the quality of life to assure that the patients and their families remain positive, focused and prepared to meet their future needs (“helping Kids with”). This organization organizes fun and family friendly events that raises money to help kids families and the local children's hospital in St. Louis.
There was a day that students at Oregon Health and Science University gathered together to make a change in their neighborhood. These kids worked effortlessly to make homemade hats and headbands to give to a local children's hospital by their campus. On the OHSU website, on October 26, 2014 a group of students at Oregon Health and Science University and other clubs on campus gathered to help families and kids who are battling childhood cancer. OHSU Student Nurses Association Klamath Falls Secretary, Aletta Mannix, said the association raised $374 earlier this year to purchase materials for Golden Hope, a project to create flowered headbands and knitted hats for children with cancer ("Students craft hats,"). The group hopes to donate one hundred of each to Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital in Portland in mid-February ("Students craft hats,"). A local newspaper interviewed them about their experience and all them said that they had a great time and really enjoyed it. These kids are taking their time to help kids in the local area. It is great that they want to help and make a difference.
Children's Cancer Research Fund is an organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This fund donates all of there money to the University of Minnesota to help kids with cancer survive. Also with this money they also find new cures then they spread to other children's hospitals. On their website it says, with this fund they developed and manufactured a brain tumor vaccine that is getting prepared for clinical trials. This vaccine shows promise to increase survival rates and provide treatments with fewer side effects (“Ways to Help”). This vaccine is a huge step into finding a cure for childhood cancer. Hopefully this vaccine will lead to more cures for cancer. The website also said, with help of people donating money to the Cancer Research Fund the university is allowed to find more cures and improvements every day (“Ways to Help”). This fund also wants people to volunteer to help them with events and help them find new people to donate to their cause. According to their website, the fund so far help over three hundred thousand kids survive cancer (“Ways to Help”). And that number is on the rise everyday. This fund wants to help kids beat cancer and have a childhood we all got to experience.
Here in our own backyard, there is an organization called Ellie’s Hats. According to the Ellie's Hats website, Ellie’s Hats works throughout the year to raise awareness of childhood cancer, and especially during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (Jay). Ellie’s Hats started as a small organization out of South Riding, Virginia. At first it was just helping kids in the Northern Virginia area getting through the chemotherapy and beyond that sadly these kids have to go through. Ellie’s Hats gives hats to these kids. To most people it is just a hat, but to them it gives them company when they are doing chemotherapy. These hats also are a symbol for the families. It shows them that they aren't fighting alone. Now there is at least one Ellie’s Hats representative in every state including the District of Columbia. What started as a small organization from a small town in Virginia, is now a huge organization that has at least one representative in every state.
I had the opportunity to interview my neighbor, Jay Coakly. Jay is the person who came up with the idea to make Ellie’s Hats. I asked him why he started Ellie’s Hats, and he told me this story. “I was a teacher at that time at Woodburn Elementary School in Falls Church and one of his students was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the spring of 2013. This child's name was Ellie. By the time she entered kindergarten, that fall, she had lost most of her hair so she was wearing hats to school everyday. The hats allowed Ellie to express her personality. So I made a small hat drive at the school and it ended up turning into something huge”. Ellie finished treatment in July 2015 and is now having her blood tested every month. Ellie played soccer this past spring and continues to improve (Jay). By the power of social media more and more people started to know what Ellie’s Hats was and what their goal was. Jay said that now pro teams are now involved with Ellie’s Hats like the Capitals, Nationals, and the Washington Redskins. These pro teams have multiple games that they ask fans and employees to donate new hats to give to Ellie’s Hats.
My family had a lot of experience with cancer. Around five years ago a very close friend of my mom past away from cancer. She had cancer twice. This past year my aunt had breast cancer and is still fighting this day. Last year during the lacrosse season the varsity team played a game for a kid who has cancer. His name was Dom, and he was five years old. That whole week was dedicated to him and his family. We held fundraisers and all of the ticket sales was given to the hospital he was going too. Seeing him fight everyday when he was out on that field with us really got to me. It opened a whole other world to me that made me want to do something to help these kids and their families.
At the end of the past summer, I organized a hat drive and a crayon drive to benefit local kids who are battling cancer. When I was starting this I thought I was only going to get at least twenty hats and a few boxes of crayons. By the end of this hat drive I had over fifty hats and sixty boxes of crayons. I was really shocked and glad that there are people out there that want to help our neighbors who are battling for their lives. I got a lot of local recognition on the Freedom Lacrosse page on The Facebook and here at my high school, Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia. I really enjoyed doing this hat drive and I hoped that I inspired others to do the same. By the end of this school year I hope to have completed yet another hat drive for capstone. I hope wherever I go to college, the administration there will let me continue running hat drives throughout college.
My opinion is that no one should ever go through all of the treatments that come with having cancer, especially children. Kids are the future of this nation and they should have the opportunity to have a childhood without having to worry about cancer. Unfortunately this isn't a perfect world. Thousand of kids have to fight everyday to make sure that they can have a childhood when they beat cancer. It is amazing that these kids go through so much and they never have a frown on their faces.
In my mind a perfect community helps their neighbors even if they don't know them. I did a hat drive because I wanted to not because I had to. I wanted to make sure everyone felt welcomed and cared for in our community. No one should fight alone. The national government isn’t helping as much as they should. Maybe if the national government wasn't arguing and not listening to the people who elected them, we may be funding pediatric cancer more than we are now.
The funding for pediatric cancer clinical trials has gone down every year since 2003, and is currently twenty six million four thousand dollars per year from the national government (“Childhood Cancer”). Compared to the budget that was given to NASA was nineteen billion three hundred thousand dollars (“Writer”).Keep in mind that we don't use NASA to go in space anymore. We only rely on them to find new things in space and they rent out their launch pads to a third party organization like Space-X. Now imagine that the budget for childhood cancer was at four trillion dollars instead of twenty six million four thousand dollars per year. With that money we might have found the cure for childhood cancer, and probably cancer in general.
A community isn’t just your neighbors, it is also the whole state, nation, and the world. In my lifetime I truly believe that I will see the day that we found the cure for all cancers. But this day will only come if we all work together to help and raise our voices to end childhood cancer. I just did a small thing like running a hat drive, but to those kids it means the whole world to them. That hat could get them through all of the chemotherapy they sadly have to go through. Every year my family gives money to St Jude Children's Research Hospital to make sure that those families don't have to pay a single penny while their loved one is fighting a fight that no one should be in. I believe that more people will step in and help our neighbors fight, like those kids at OHSU, or Jay from Ellie’s Hats. I'm just a kid from Northern Virginia who ran a hat drive to make sure that no one fights alone. There will be a day that cancer is just a zodiac sign.
Works Cited
"Childhood Cancer Statistics." CureSearch for Children's Cancer. N.p., n.d. https://curesearch.org/Childhood-Cancer-Statistics. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.
"Childhood Cancer: Where's The Money?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 12 Sept. 2008. https://www.forbes.com/2008/09/11/pediatric-cancer-philanthropy-oped-cx_hj_0912jonsen.html. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
"Helping Kids with Cancer...Be Kids!" Friends of Kids with Cancer | Helping Kids with Cancer Be Kids. N.p., n.d. https://www.friendsofkids.com/. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
Jay. "Home." Ellie's Hats.Jay/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Ellies-Hats-Logo-Header.png, 06 Jan. 2017. https://ellieshats.org/. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
"Students craft hats, headbands for kids with cancer." Oregon Health & Science University.N.p.,n.d.http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-nursing/about/news-events/crafts-for-cancer-2014.cfm. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
"Ways to Help." Children's Cancer Research Fund. N.p.,
n.d.<http://www.childrenscancer.org/main/ways_to_help/>. Web. 14 Feb. 2017.
Writer, Sarah Lewin Staff. "NASA's 2017 Budget Request: Reactions from Space Industry Experts, Lawmakers." Space.com. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.space.com/31886-nasa-2017-budget-request-reactions.html. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.