Childhood Cancer Awareness Month 2027

About Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Cancer in children is rare compared with cancer in adults, but the National Cancer Institute notes that it is the leading cause of death from disease after infancy among US children. The NCI estimated about 9,620 new cancer diagnoses and 1,040 cancer deaths among children up to age 14 in 2024. The most common types are leukemias, brain and other central nervous system tumors, and lymphomas.

Survival has improved a great deal. For acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, the NCI reports five-year survival rising from 57 percent in 1975 to about 92 percent for children diagnosed in 2014 to 2020. Many survivors still face long-term effects of treatment, which is why follow-up care and research into gentler therapies remain priorities.

President Barack Obama issued the first presidential proclamation for National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month on August 31, 2012, declaring September 2012 the observance and noting that cancer remained the leading cause of death by disease for children under 15. The US Senate has also passed resolutions designating September as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, including one for September 2025.

The gold ribbon was chosen as the symbol by a board member and a group of parents connected with the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, now the American Childhood Cancer Organization, which paid for the first gold ribbon lapel pins in 1997. Gold was picked because it is a precious metal, a way of saying that children are precious too.

Sources: National Cancer Institute: Cancer in Children and Adolescents, Federal Register: Proclamation 8851, National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 2012, Congress.gov: S. Res. 465 (119th Congress), National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, American Childhood Cancer Organization: Gold Ribbon Awareness. How we check dates.

How to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

• Wear a gold ribbon or gold clothing in September and explain what it stands for when people ask.
• Ask a family with a child in treatment what would actually help, such as meals, rides, care for siblings or errands.
• Give blood or platelets; many children with cancer need transfusions during treatment.
• Find out whether you can join the national bone marrow donor registry, which looks for donors who meet its age and health requirements.
• Support a children's hospital, pediatric cancer research program or family support group with time or a donation.

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month dates