PEDIATRIC CANCER FACTS

  • In 2014, an estimated 15,780 children and adolescents between birth and the age of nineteen were diagnosed with cancer.
  • Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children following accidents.
  • Among children, cancer is the leading cause of death by disease.
  • Every day, 43 children and teenagers will be diagnosed with cancer, and 5 will die from the disease.
  • The average age of childhood cancer diagnosis is 10 years old, while the average age of adult diagnosis is 65.
  • The most common types of cancer in children and adolescents are: Leukemia (26%), Brain and central nervous system (18%), and Lymphoma (14%)
  • Survival rates for childhood cancers can range from as little as 0% for cancers such as DIPG, a type of brain cancer, to as much as 90% for ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), one specific form of leukemia.
  • Each year, thousands of pediatric cancer patients and their families leave their homes to travel to Houston for cancer treatment. This places an additional emotional and financial burden on each family.
  • Texas Children’s Hospital is the largest pediatric cancer center in the United States. Over 41,000 outpatient visits are performed each year with patients from 35 states and 26 countries.
  • The Children’s Cancer Hospital at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is located within a cancer center that has been ranked by U.S. News as one of the nation’s top two cancer centers every year since 1990.

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