In the month of September we recognize children fighting cancer.

As an ambassador for the organization DanceHopeCure this month is very important for me. For about the past seven years I have been attending the national event CureFest. CureFest is an event where fighters, angels, and survivors of Childhood Cancer can be recognized.

Fighters and survivors deliver speeches, perform dances, and even sometimes sing about the struggles they are going through or have experienced to show truly how far they have come. Many parents of angels do the same and talk about how beyond strong, brave, and amazing their kids were. This event allows cancer patients to connect with people they have never met but are experiencing a lot of the same struggles, voice their stories so more people can hear about how truly awful childhood cancer is, and fundraise for research and cures to end this awful disease. 

I started attending this event when someone I was very close with relapsed with sarcoma for the third time. I was fortunate enough to be able to dance with her for a year, but after that one season of dance with her she was unable to participate in athletics. Since then we have followed her family, participated in childhood cancer events, and advocated for childhood cancer and what it deserves. Within the seven years I have attended CureFest, me and my home studio Savage Dance Company have performed at the event for her to show that she will never be forgotten and will forever have an impact on us and our whole studio. 

As a community we need to do better for the kids that just get their lives taken away from them. About 1,800 kids die from cancer each year, and if you think this should change—get involved. Raising money, becoming an ambassador, or just researching organizations can help in so many ways.

Each year childhood cancer gets about 240 million dollars for research, but Starbucks gets about 29.46 billion dollars a year in earnings. Think if most just skipped getting a coffee from Starbucks a few times a year and donated that to childhood cancer they could be changing lives.

All children deserve to live a healthy life of fun and memories, so be that change and support childhood cancer. 

Donate to CureFest here.

Donate to DanceHopeCure here.