WHEREAS, More than 11,000 children and teenagers are diagnosed with cancer each year; and
WHEREAS, Cancer is the number one cause of death in children under the age of 14. Each year, approximately 2,300 children and teenagers in the United States die of cancer; and
WHEREAS, 1 in every 330 Americans develops cancer before the age of 20. Every school day, there are 46 children diagnosed with this deadly disease; and
WHEREAS, The median age at diagnosis for those children with cancer is 6. In 8 out of every 10 children, the disease has already spread by the time they are first diagnosed; and
WHEREAS, The incidence of cancer among children has increased almost 20 percent in the last two decades. Despite research, cancer still kills more children than any other disease and the incidence of cancer in children is 15 times greater than that of AIDS in children; and
WHEREAS, Progress in the battle against childhood cancer is being made, with survival rates for common childhood cancer rising from 43 percent to 73 percent in the last 20 years, although children cured of cancer have an increased rate of developing a second cancer later in life; and
WHEREAS, The cancer death rate has dropped more dramatically for children than for any other age group due solely to advanced research in this area; and
WHEREAS, The Gold Ribbon has come to symbolize childhood cancer awareness; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby recognize September 2004 as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and proclaim September 18, 2004 as Gold Ribbon Day in honor of childhood cancer patients, care givers, survivors and those children who have succumbed to the disease.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the American Cancer Society and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as evidence of the respect and admiration of this legislative body for the work they do in their fight to find a cure for childhood cancer.
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