This is an excerpt from an essay
written by a college student, Haley Peterson. Haley was diagnosed at age
5 with Neuroblastoma. She relapsed in 2006 at age 17. She fights this
monster, cancer everyday.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood
cancer is the leading cause of disease related deaths in the US and it
kills more children per year than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy,
asthma, and AIDS combined. Every day, researchers are getting closer and
closer to discovering a cure for cancer, but for the families of those
who don’t survive their disease, every day is one day too late.
For a little boy named Julian Avery today is two months and nineteen
days too late. Julian passed away on January 19, 2008 at the age of four
from a brain tumor called medulloblastoma. The tumor was found in March
of 2007 and a few days after the initial CT scan that found the tumor,
King JuJu as he was affectionately called, had brain surgery to
completely remove the tumor. He then had six weeks of daily radiation
treatments to his brain and after a four week break he began
chemotherapy.
While still on treatment, scans revealed that the tumor had returned and
that Julian had run out of options. “Take him home and love him” was
what the doctors probably told his mother Mimi. After Julian’s body
slowly went paralyzed from his feet all the way up his body from growth
of the tumor, he still fought on. Eventually though, the beast overcame
him and killed him. King JuJu took his last breath at 11:22 am on
January 19, 2008.
If there had been enough funding for childhood cancer research, Julian
Avery might still be here fighting or enjoying remission. He isn’t,
though. With more funding for childhood cancer research, better and more
effective treatments can be discovered. Without the money, children will
still die from these terrible illnesses.
I am writing this persuasive essay on the need to increase funding for
childhood cancer research because I know of far too many children in
need of better treatments and essentially a cure for their disease. I
could list hundreds, but to name a few, here are some kids who are
fighting every day: Coleman Larson, Matthew Epp, Austin Melgar, Bailey
Spoonhower, Emily Adamson, Colleen Moore, Autumn Lawrence, Cody
Robinson, Cole Kaspar, Kennedy Garcia, and John Eric Bartels. There are
so many more I could easily name; those are only a small handful.
Something needs to be done, someone needs to do something.
This is King JuJu
What Would You Do?
What does it feel like to be...
locked in your own body.
What does
it feel like to....
not be able to speak, walk without assistance, see or swallow,
while still having cognitive abilities and thoughts.
What does it feel like to....wake
everyday and experience the sensation of losing the use of a finger,
toe, or limb at a pace that shuts down your entire body within weeks.
What does it feel like....to
be trapped, without hope or without a lifeline to the outside world
around you.
What if....you
are five years old.
Brain tumors affect the most
innocent of all victims, children who want to grow up and dream of a
future. It strikes with little warning and no mercy. Often, by the time
a diagnosis is made, it is already too late. There are often no options.
Why? There is no cure.
There are over 120 different types
of brain tumors. Brain tumors have no socio-economic boundaries and do
not discriminate among gender or ethnicity. There are currently no know
causes of brain tumors.
3,500 children are diagnosed with
some form of a brain tumor every year in this country. 40% or 4 out of
10 of these children will die. 75% are under the age of 15.
Cancer kills more children than
asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS. Brain tumors are the most
deadly of all childhood cancers.
Brain tumor research is underfunded
and the public remains unaware of the magnitude of this disease. The
cure rate for most brain tumors is significantly lower than for many
other types of cancer.
We must work to change this. Our most precious commodity, our children are counting on us. Together we can and will make a difference.