Go Gold Day

Sarasota County elementary and middle schools are GOING GOLD this September, with an awareness day at the end of the month and a campaign to raise “Change for Cancer” in the classrooms.

Participate in this community-wide initiative by wearing GOLD on Friday, September 28th, and by collecting donations for The Benjamin Gilkey Fund for Innovative Pediatric Cancer Research.

• 15,780 children per year are expected to be diagnosed with cancer. That’s 43 children each day.
• Cancer is the number one cause of death by disease among children, claiming more lives than all other diseases combined.
• On average, about 17% of children die within 5 years of a cancer diagnosis. Among those children that survive to five years from diagnosis, 18% will die within 30 years.
• There are 70 potential life years lost on average when a child dies of cancer, compared to 15 potential life years lost for adults.
• Despite all of these statistics, only 4% of federal cancer funding is allocated for pediatric cancer research.