CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Harbor Bridge will be lit up in gold Friday through Sept. 24 in observation of September as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Driscoll Children’s Hospital’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Center is the sponsor of the event.
Patients and staff at the center are taking wearing of gold very seriously. On Monday, gold awareness ribbons and gold outfits were abundant at the hospital.
And one patient, Jeremiah Clemons of Bloomington, had the words “Go Gold” painted on his bald head.
The gold color symbolizes how precious children are and the resiliency of childhood cancer patients.
The international awareness symbol for childhood cancer is the gold ribbon. And unlike other awareness ribbons which symbolize one specific disease, the gold childhood cancer ribbon stands for dozens of diseases.
“The gold lights on the Harbor Bridge will show Corpus Christi how dedicated Driscoll Children’s Hospital is to fighting childhood cancer,” said registered nurse Shannon Broughton, the clinical coordinator for Driscoll's Cancer & Blood Disorders Center.
Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in children in the U.S. and each year, with more than 15,000 children are diagnosed with cancer.
Fifty years ago, childhood cancer was virtually incurable, but the overall survival rate for childhood cancer is now 80 percent.
There are currently 390,000 childhood cancer survivors in the U.S. and that number continues to rise.
