Petition for DIPG and Childhood Cancer

DIPGHEROESPlease help us get a National Day for our DIPG heroes!   This could seriously help our kids and childhood cancer research.  That’s right, you really do have the power to create change!  All it takes is clicking a button, but you have to actually do it for it to work, and share.  Please read, and if it speaks to you, sign and share on your social media venues.  Thank you for your consideration.

Short URL:  https://www.credomobilize.com/p/DIPG

This is what the campaign looks like:

TO: THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

DIPG Awareness Day--support change for the lack of cancer research funding for our kids

Declare a National Awareness Day for the most lethal of pediatric brain tumors–DIPG– responsible for 80% of the pediatric brain tumor deaths each year, and for which the invariably terminal nature has seen no change in over 35 years. Brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in children, which is first after injury and accidents.

Why is this important?

WHY DIPG? Grief begins at diagnosis, and has been for decades for thousands of families. DIPG is an ambassador for childhood cancer awareness in that it is a poignant example of a childhood cancer marginalized as being “rare” despite the fact that it is a common pediatric brain tumor (12% incidence out of 170+ varieties) and responsible for so much devastation. No family should ever be told that their child’s life doesn’t matter because they’re a number, but it happens all the time. DIPG is so awful an experience that finally a critical mass of the population has been reached such that we are banding together and insisting on attention–for those currently suffering, and those to follow in the future. This unacceptable reality must change!

ALL CHILDHOOD CANCERS are categorized as rare, no matter how many cumulative deaths, how regular the frequency and incidence…200-300 children each year are diagnosed with DIPG, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, and for the last 35 years, families are told there is nothing to save their child from certain death. When the question is posed as to why no effective therapies have been developed, the answer is always the same: “Not enough numbers for investors.”

Currently in the USA, the choices are made through the National Cancer Institute to designate only 4% of their annual research budget to pediatric cancer research. When so many have been dying for so many years, invariably, from one of the most malignant of cancers, and nothing has been done, it is obvious that our system is dominated by short-term profits. Most scientists agree that progress with the pediatric varieties of cancer will invariably help cancer research, and our understanding of biology and medicine. For our children’s sake, we need to make an effort to put the value of our children’s lives before quick returns on investments for big corporations. ESPECIALLY where our tax-dollars that are allotted for cancer research are concerned!

Thank you for so much for your attention. The suffering of these children and their families must be addressed nationally for there to be effective changes made. California has taken the lead by declaring May 25-31 DIPG Awareness Week in California, just last year. Pennsylvania followed suit February 22, 2015. Help us ask the President all together to declare a National DIPG Awareness Day!

 

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