Childhood Cancer Awareness

On average over 350 children, adolescents, and young adults (aged 0 – 24 years) are diagnosed with cancer in Ireland every year. While it is estimated that there are over 6,000 adult survivors of childhood cancer living in Ireland today, childhood cancer is the largest disease killer of children in this country.

We were delighted to work with Childhood Cancer Ireland and CanTeen Ireland on the Childhood, Adolescent, Young Adult Cancers & Survivorship Conference (CAYAS) which took place this weekend. The conference provided a platform for patients, survivors, and their families to connect with health care professionals and researchers to ensure that the voice of the lived experience is central to policy and practice.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and CAYAS marked the end of this month by keeping the lived experience at the heart of the conversation. By connecting and hosting patients, survivors, parents, families, carers, advocates, health care professionals, researchers, and policy makers, CAYAS 2022 updated, educated, and informed attendees of the facts about childhood cancer in Ireland. As well as highlighting the progress made, CAYAS aimed to find a way to solve the unmet needs of patients and survivors, and to discuss a national survivorship programme for Ireland.

CAYAS was the final event in a month-long series of events to mark September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The gold ribbon is the international symbol of childhood cancer, and Childhood Cancer Ireland began the Light it up Gold campaign in Dublin in 2013. Since then, they have hosted numerous events, walks, candle-lit vigils, and illuminations. This month they have also launched the second season of a podcast series Gold Ribbon Conversations, hosted by Sinead O’ Moore to shine a light on the experiences of families during diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and bereavement, as well as hearing from medical and emotional experts in the field.

For further information on CAYAS, please visit www.cayasireland.ie/. For more details on CanTeen Ireland, please visit www.canteen.ie/. And, for more information on Childhood Cancer Ireland, log onto www.childhoodcancer.ie.