We must find better cancer treatments for kids like Abbi

Abbi and her grandmother Cheryl were born decades apart, but their childhoods were similar. Both were diagnosed with cancer as young children.

But while Abbi's grandmother remembers treatment as a harrowing and lonely experience, Abbi's battle has been different. Back when Cheryl was diagnosed, there weren't many treatment options available, nor places where she could get the care she needed. She spent six months far from home at a hospital. While Cheryl beat the odds and has been cancer-free for 50 years now, the radiation treatments that saved her life created other long-term health problems that she's had to cope with all her life.

Today, Abbi's treatment is more precise with fewer side effects. She is also fortunate to have access to treatment at her local hospital and receive more support from her family.

Without the efforts of researchers to find more effective pediatric cancer treatments, Abbi's experience could have been as scary as her grandmother's. But even as treating and beating cancer has become likelier than ever before, too many children still spend months in hospitals receiving treatments that have lasting impacts, and too many children don't make it.

That's why it's crucial that we continue to fund more research to improve treatment options and survival rates for kids around the world. Each day, 36 kids in the United States are diagnosed with cancer, yet less than 4 percent of federal funding for cancer research goes to pediatric cancers. We must do better.

Add your name to support kids like Abbi who need better treatment options to become cancer survivors.