JACKSON – Against the backdrop of children going back to school, and the struggles that entails, the Township Council recognized September as “Child Cancer Awareness” month.
Councilman Steven Chisholm read a proclamation saying, “cancer affects thousands of children each year and is the leading cause of the death by disease of U.S. children under the age of 15, killing more children than AIDS, asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and muscular dystrophy combined. Childhood cancer spares no one.”
The proclamation added, “it affects kids from every socio-economic, ethnic and geographic class and the causes of most pediatric cancer are largely unknown and not strongly linked to lifestyle, unlike adult cancers. Two thirds of children treated for childhood cancer will develop long lasting chronic conditions resulting from treatment.”
Chisholm said statistics showed nearly “16,000 of our nation’s youth will be diagnosed with a form of cancer and one in five will lose their battle with cancer. Less than five percent of all federal government’s total funding for cancer research is dedicated to childhood cancer and only about three percent of funds raised for the National Cancer Institute go directly to pediatric cancer research.”
“Despite major advancements in treatments it is still critically important to conduct research and increase awareness regarding pediatric cancer,” Chisholm added.
Mayor Michael Reina said, “having childhood cancer is something we live with in my family every day.”
Councilman Ken Bressi said of the proclamation “This could affect any family at any time. You can only imagine what a family goes through. We should all donate when we can to it. It is really something to set priorities and open your eyes.”
Chisholm noted that with the resumption of school, “please pay attention out there on the roads as the school buses are out there in force and students are waiting, hanging out on the road. I’d like to wish all the Jackson School District kids a great year, hopefully they’ll learn a lot and I hope 2021’s class gets a better year than the 2020 seniors.”
Councilman Alex Sauickie gave a shout out to the teachers of the township school district. “I’m the son of a teacher and I come home to one every day and I have numerous friends and family who are teachers and I can tell you the world of a teacher has been turned upside down this year.”
He added, “everything they knew for years and years is completely different this year so if you have the opportunity please thank them because I can tell you from experience, stress levels are at an all time high. There are so many unknowns as to what they are doing at their jobs combined with technical difficulties that come up anything you could to make them feel will be appreciated.”
