Dear Future President,

Cancer can be a very scary disease to experience and it’s extremely devastating, both mentally and physically. Many children are diagnosed every year with cancer and they have to go through a long process of treatments. Children are impacted by this harmful disease and many of them have to go through treatment at a very young age. As our next president, you must provide funding for childhood cancer research!

Childhood Cancer is becoming a life threatening issue and we need funding to help invent new treatments. Even when long term survival is achieved, many children still face long-term adverse effects. Treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation can be very harmful and toxic to young children. “Forty years ago childhood cancer was almost always fatal. Today, through advances in diagnosis and treatment, over 75% of children survive their disease. The challenge is that many children are still dying because progress has been stagnant for the last 10 years due to major funding gaps.” We need funding to discover and formulate new treatments. For example, scientists have discovered more targeted therapies and immune-based therapies. Kids are having good prognosis with these treatments because they are less toxic and they only target the bad, cancer cells. Because of the proper funding, scientists and doctors were able to invent these treatments.

Childhood cancer is also the leading cause of death in kids and teens. More children are lost to cancer in the U.S. than any other disease—in fact, more than many other childhood diseases combined. The disease continues to scar families every year and parents continue to feel apprehensive about the life-threatening disease. Children are the future generation that will change the world! All types of childhood cancers combined receive only 4% of U.S. federal funding for cancer research. If the government doesn’t give funding for this devastating disease, many children will continue to die and they will not be able to achieve their goals or dreams. Scientists and doctors will be able to come up with new treatments if you give them funding.

Many people may think that we shouldn’t fund childhood cancer because it is not a common disease in children and teens. Clinical trials are also restricted to a small number of patients and it is also harmful to give a child toxic and strong drugs. However, children will not be able to get the correct treatment and not live if childhood cancer doesn’t get funding. We should fund childhood cancer because many people are not well educated about it and don’t know that they might have a possibility of having it. It is a leading cause of death in children and if we don’t do something about it know, the effects can become worse. There are new clinical studies coming out that can help fight childhood cancer efficiently and safely. We just have to support them!

If you fund childhood cancer, we can help save many lives. Scientists and doctors will be able to invent better treatments and they will be able to diagnose and cure a child in a less harmful and efficient way. Children will be able to achieve their dreams and most importantly, make the world a better place! Childhood cancer needs funding!

Sincerely,

Saloni Desai

8th Grade