Texas Children’s Cancer Center is the largest pediatric cancer center in the nation and we have a three-part mission to pursue excellence in patient care, research and education.
In September, National Childhood Cancer Awareness month, we have the opportunity to raise awareness for childhood cancer and to honor our courageous young patients by “Going Gold,” the official symbolic color for childhood cancer. Three years ago, we were inspired to “Go Gold” by a young patient, Faris D. Virani, who was truly perplexed as to why he didn’t see as much gold in September as he saw other colors in months representing other diseases. Motivated by Faris’ concern, each year we increased our level of “gold-ness.” This year, our young patients will see lots of gold: gold ribbons on the trees along the street as they enter our hospital; our clinic and inpatient staff wearing gold T-shirts; physicians wearing gold pins; many gold ribbons throughout our Center; a holiday tree, decorated in gold, in our clinic; and gold posters and banners. The list goes on, even Houston’s City Hall will be lit gold from Sept. 16-19!
Going gold is a way for us both to honor the courageous journeys of our patients and families who have been touched by pediatric cancer and to create awareness on a national level about the challenges these children face. Personally, the Going Gold campaign is a reminder that each day in our Cancer Center, all our dedicated staff members, including physicians and nurses, researchers, technicians and our support personnel, are diligently looking for ways to improve the cure rate for childhood cancer. We will not quit until we find a cure for every child with cancer and are able to prevent these diseases altogether.
By the end of this year, it is estimated that over 15,700 children nationwide will be diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer. Please help us spread the message that Texas Children’s Cancer Center is leading the battle against pediatric cancer. To learn more about Texas Children’s Cancer Center, please visit http://www.txch.org.
(Originally posted on the Texas Children’s Hospital Blog)