Dear Friends,
When Brad was diagnosed with childhood cancer in 2000, we were as frightened as any parents could be. We were not only terrified by the realization that our child had a disease that could prove terminal, but that there was no clear cut cure or plan of attack to follow. In the years since our child’s diagnosis, there has been little improvement. One of the factors for this is the severe lack of awareness of childhood cancer.
Did you know September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month? If you didn’t, you’re not alone. Many people do not know what the month signifies. Yet every day, two full classrooms of kids are diagnosed with cancer. And still, only 2% of federal funding for cancer research is directed at solving cancers that impact our children.
While doctors and researchers have made strides in the battle against so many other types of cancer, the lack of funding and awareness for our children has led to an insignificant improvement in survival rates for pediatric cancer over the past decade. As a result, cancer continues to be the number one disease killer of children in our country, more than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and pediatric AIDS combined! So how does childhood cancer become a priority cause in this country? The journey begins with each of us. We need your help to raise more funds and more awareness.
Please go to our links page to visit other organizations that serve the childhood cancer community. You will find many opportunities to get involved in the fight to support these kids and their families as well as the ongoing battle to find cures. Also, visit our "Upcoming Events" section for information on events the Brad Gambrell Memorial Foundation is planning.
We hope you will seek ways to become involved in this fight with us and help to insure that children don't have to keep getting sick and dying from this dreaded disease. Together, we can make curing childhood cancer as urgently important as it should be.
Perry & Lenora Gambrell