Cancer Facts

Did you know?

• One in every 330 Americans develops cancer before the age of twenty

• On the average, 36 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer everyday in the United States.

• Childhood cancers affect more potential patient-years of life than any other cancer except breast and lung cancer.
  
  
• Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the United States.
  
  
• On the average, one in every four elementary schools has a child with cancer. The average high school has two students who are current or former cancer patients.
  
  
• Childhood cancers affect more potential patient-years of life than any other cancer except breast and lung cancer.

• The causes of most childhood cancers are unknown. At present, childhood cancer cannot be prevented.

• Childhood cancer occurs regularly, randomly and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region.

• In the United States, the incidence of cancer among adolescents and young adults is increasing at a greater rate than any other age group, except those over 65 years.