"GOLD RIBBON DAYS" TO SPOTLIGHT CHILDREN WITH CANCER

September is Childhood Cancer Month. Childhood cancer patients and their families will gather September 25 - 27 in Washington DC for "Conquer Kids Cancer Gold Ribbon Days" to call more attention to this disease which kills more children than any other.

Cancers youngest patients and their families will meet in the nations capital for Conquer Kids Cancer Gold Ribbon Days" during September, which is Childhood Cancer Month. They will all be wearing a gold ribbon on their lapel, which has come to represent children with cancer.

According to Lisa Parks, who is organizing the event for the National Childhood Cancer Foundation, The gold ribbon was chosen because our children are our gold. More children die of cancer than of any other disease. And yet, few realize that children get brain tumors, lymphomas, leukemia, bone cancer, and all the other devastating diseases known collectively as
childhood cancer."

She says that the Washington DC meeting on September 25 - 27 will provide an opportunity for all whose lives have been touched by childhood cancer to unite, raise public awareness and actively advocate for policies of the greatest benefit to childhood cancer patients and survivors.

Participants in Gold Ribbon Days will attend a legislative advocacy workshop to discuss public policies affecting children with cancer, and a Capitol Hill rally Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) will be among the featured speakers. Three years ago she lost her young daughter Caroline to cancer at the age of nine. The event will also include an educational program of updated information on childhood cancer research frontiers, new therapies, long-term follow up, patient care considerations, and other important issues.

Young cancer patients and their families, as well as parents who have lost children to cancer, plan to visit the offices of their Congressional representatives to ask for support of increased funding for research into childhood cancer, and improved policies to benefit children with cancer and their families.

The Conquer Kids Cancer Gold Ribbon Days" program was originally developed by the National Childhood Cancer Foundation two years ago, with 28 other childhood cancer groups and advocacy organizations involved as collaborating partners. The 2001 program had to be cancelled due to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The National Childhood Cancer Foundation supports the research work of the Childrens Oncology Group at over 235 childrens hospitals throughout North America and elsewhere in the world. The collaborative efforts of these physicians and research scientists have raised the cure rate to over 70% for infants, children, teens and young adults with cancer who are treated at their member-institutions.

For more information about the childhood cancer awareness program in Washington DC, or to receive a free gold ribbon pin, contact the National Childhood Cancer Foundation at (800) 458-6223, or at www.ChildhoodCancerAwareness or www.ConquerKidsCancer.org.

Contact: Meredith Brucker, Director of Public Affairs, (800) 458-6223, ext. 198