Lily's Garden Lily was diagnosed with Pre-B ALL (Acute Lymphocytic
Leukemia) on December 1, 2008. Her doctor explained leukemia by telling her that the leukemia cells were like weeds
that crowd out the good flowers in a garden. For the next two and a half years, Lily will undergo a regimen of
chemotherapy and other treatments in order to kill all the weeds so that only healthy and beautiful flowers will grow in "Lily's
Garden."
Lily's story is only one out of thousands. Each
school day 46 children are diagnosed with some type of childhood cancer. A diagnosis of cancer almost always
involves a grueling regimen of chemotherapy, spinal taps, radiation, steroids and other medications and procedures.
Years of childhood are lost to daily cancer treatment. Children with blood cancers typically go through a minimum
of two and a half years of chemotherapy treatment. Even when the child overcomes cancer successfully, he/she is often
left with major lifelong side-effects. All too frequently, the child goes through the ordeal of treatment, only to die
from either the side effects or when the treatment doesn't work for his/her particular cancer. These children are our future, and yet, as a nation, we don't make it a priority
to find a cure for childhood cancer.
DID
YOU KNOW?
- Cancer remains the #1 disease
killer of America’s children - more than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Asthma and AIDS combined
As a nation, we spend over $14 BILLION per year on the space
program, but only $35 MILLION on Childhood Cancer Research each year.
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