When I was four, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on my father’s birthday. Fortunately, thanks to the excellent treatment I received at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, I have been cancer-free for over 15 years.
Ever since then, I’ve had the unique experience of participating in cancer awareness events as a survivor of the disease. However, as I grew older and started discussing my cancer experience, I realized that despite all these cancer events, there is one type of cancer that is consistently overlooked: childhood cancer.
Most people probably could not say what color is associated with childhood cancer (it’s yellow) or what month is designated for its awareness (September).
The lack of knowledge surrounding childhood cancer is astonishing. For something that impacts our future generations, childhood cancer often goes unnoticed compared to other cancers, such as breast, liver or lymphoma.
This trickles down into funding as well.
In 2022, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invested about $6.8 billion annually in cancer research. Breast cancer research received $580 million, lung cancer received $477 million and all forms of leukemia received $287 million. All told, childhood cancer research received roughly $272 million, which is only 4% of the NIH budget (this amount is then split amongst research projects for 12 main types and 100 subtypes of pediatric cancer).
Despite this funding discrepancy, there have been miraculous breakthroughs in pediatric cancer research: the five-year survival rate has grown from 58% in the 1970s to 85% in 2025. While that is incredible, more well-funded cancers, such as breast, have over a 90% survival rate in 2025.
Childhood cancer faces another problem due to a lack of funding: 60% of childhood cancer patients tend to suffer additional health problems and experience severe complications in their adulthood. It is part of the reason why my doctors require me to have an echocardiogram of my heart done every five years. With more funding, researchers could better understand the effects of cancer and treatments on children as they grow into adulthood.
These statistics make the need to fund more childhood cancer research clearer than ever.
However, on Dec. 21, 2024, the U.S. Congress passed a late federal spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. At the urging of then-President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Congress removed funding and programs designed to aid childhood cancer research, further stretching an already thin budget.
Additionally, once President Trump was sworn into office, he signed several executive orders that would cut the funding to the NIH by 15%, which have been temporarily blocked. Yet, if passed, it would significantly impact the amount of money allocated to cancer research, causing even more issues for children diagnosed with cancer.
It is a shame, as a nation, that we have not provided enough funding for childhood cancer research. It is the leading cause of death by disease after infancy among children, and we have barely done enough to help it.
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Critics argue that increasing spending for childhood cancer research would be a waste of money since most childhood cancers are considered “rare.” While that is true, only a slight increase in funding could provide for better research and better treatments for children diagnosed with under-researched forms of pediatric cancers, such as Ewing Sarcoma, Neuroblastoma or Osteosarcoma.
There are some easy ways to increase the funding for pediatric cancer. Shaving off part of the multi-billion Space Force, or NASA, budget would be more than enough money to close the funding gap without impacting most Americans’ lives (Less than 1% of any of these budgets!)
Alternatively, the NIH could re-distribute the cancer budget so that the historically more funded cancers with better survival rates lose a small portion of their budget. $1 or 2 million dollars maximum. This would still ensure they could continue their fundamental research, but would help ensure that our children can fight for a healthier and brighter future.
I understand that government funding must be cut down somewhere, and that no solution is perfect. However, we can’t just sit by and lose the advancements we’ve made with pediatric cancer research.
The fact that I am alive to write this is a testament to it.
Without the research that had been done, I and many other pediatric cancer survivors would be dead. If we want future generations of children diagnosed with cancer to have a fighting chance, we need to fund pediatric cancer research – not cut it.
Molly Fahy is a sophomore double majoring in journalism and political science. She is a staff writer for The Student and also writes for The Miami Student Magazine. Besides The Student, Molly is involved with the Stage Left and Cinci Smiles organizations.
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