A mother and her son share their experience battling childhood cancer.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
HOLYOKE — Through a proclamation made inside the mayor’s office on Sept. 16, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia recognized September as Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
Joined by families impacted by childhood cancer diagnoses, Garcia spoke about the importance of the proclamation and supporting children who face cancer.
“Today we get to bring awareness to something that’s very important,” Garcia said. “So much so that it is something drastically underfunded in comparison to cancer research affecting adult populations and we want to bring awareness to childhood related cancer so that we can make sure that we’re doing anything and everything we can to continue to fight this horrible, terrible experience.”
In the proclamation, Garcia noted on average, 44 children are diagnosed with cancer every day, with one in seven statistically not seeing the five-year milestone. He also called for more funding in support of families and children who have to go through the experience.
“All children deserve the chance to dream, discover and realize their full potential. We extend our support to young people fighting for that opportunity and we recognize all who commit themselves to advancing the journey toward a cancer free world,” Garcia said. “I urge all citizens to support families facing childhood cancer and support lifesaving research to discover more effective treatment for children diagnosed with cancer.”
Garcia invited a couple different families to share their stories and experiences battling childhood cancer. Each family was fortunately able to report a case of remission since and talk about the overall experience.
The mayor was presented a gold ribbon after the proclamation that represents all childhood cancer and it will be hung on his office door.
