September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund is encouraging all of Jacksonville to #GoGold with them to support local families tackling childhood cancer. Here are 5 reasons why:
1. People you know are tackling childhood cancer right now.
According to statistics from Nemours Children’s Clinic, an average of 90 families are given the news that they must face childhood cancer. And since the average treatment time for childhood cancers lasts approximately 2.5 years, that means that, at any given time, there are 250 families facing the unthinkable. If you spread these numbers across a map of Jacksonville, that means that each zip code contains over 8 families tackling childhood cancer. 8 families close to your neighborhood, your workplace, and the park you take your children to play in. Since the Jay Fund strives to #BeThere for these families, supporting the Jay Fund is a great way to help.
2. Childhood Cancer treatment is INCREDIBLY expensive.
Although costs vary from case to case, on average, a child’s treatment cost exceeds $500,000. Unfortunately, most family insurance plans do not cover all medical expenses. In addition, families face associated costs – additional gas, food, accommodations, child care for siblings, and more – which are never covered by insurance. All these monumental expenditures present themselves without warning, and are amplified by the fact that, in most instances, either one or both parents have to either cut back their hours at work, or leave the workforce altogether, to #BeThere for their sick child. When you choose to #GoGold, you provide the means for the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund to provide critical financial assistance for parents, so they can concentrate on their families.
3. After tackling childhood cancer, a family’s financial world changes forever.
When doctors share a diagnosis with a family, everything changes instantly from a financial standpoint. Unfortunately for most families, those financial burdens continue to mount for several years, as many children suffer developmental setbacks due to the illness and the treatment process. So, even if a family can make the initial adjustment to their “new normal”, they can run into financial trouble at any point. The Jay Fund not only provides in-crisis financial assistance, but also provides families with a “Financial Game Plan” and sessions with “Financial Coach” Kathy Devine, who provides tips and techniques to better manage budgets and get through financial difficulties. When you #GoGold, you’re helping families forever.
4. Childhood cancer affects the entire family.
Of course, the child who contracts cancer must deal with the disease and treatment, but must also come to grips with a new way of life, doctor visits, hospital stays and the emotional ups and downs each day brings. Parents must quickly learn to deal with the added stress of massive financial, psychological and practical upheaval in their family’s life, which often affects them forever. Siblings go through difficult psychological adjustments because of the drastic change the diagnosis causes in their lives. That’s why the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund also strives to make families’ lives brighter through parties and special events that allow them to forget the bad things and just…#BeThere. In the moment, having fun as a family. When you #GoGold, you create lasting memories for children and families that often help to get them through the tough times.
5. Every Jacksonville family tackling childhood cancer must know that no one fights alone.
When faced with childhood cancer, it’s very easy for families to begin to feel isolated and alone. By choosing to #GoGold – whether it’s by wearing a Jay Fund #GoGold t-shirt or supporting the families at EverBank Field for the “Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Childhood Cancer Awareness Day” on September 21st or making an online donation at tcjayfund.org – you’re letting families know that you care, and you’re willing to stand with them in the midst of the unthinkable.
