Jealous of Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you live in the United States, you can't miss it. Pink ribbons are on everything. Pro football players are wearing pink on their jerseys. Our local newspaper is tinted pink this month.

I'm jealous.

I wonder how many people know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Or that a gold ribbon is the symbol for the disease. I certainly didn't, until my child was diagnosed with cancer. Why not? Probably because childhood cancer is relatively rare. Maybe because it makes us all very uncomfortable, because it's so tragic. Maybe we'd rather not think about it. I know I wouldn't.

Childhood cancer research is severely underfunded. When I see pink ribbons everywhere, I'm saddened by the fact that children have no voice to secure much-needed research dollars. Their parents have to do it for them, and during the ordeal, most of us are just too tired and trying to survive emotionally. Afterward, some parents just want to forget that chapter in their lives and move on.

Some of us will write letters to Congress and checks to our local hospital. We'll participate in walks and fundraisers. But it feels a little bit like having a bake sale...you just can't make that much money this way. Not the kind of money that propels research forward.

I know many people who've had breast cancer. Several relatives have battled it. I am saddened by their ordeals, and admire their strength. Odds are I'll have to deal with it at some point, too. What woman hasn't emerged from a mammogram and thought, "Not my turn yet."

But I know that nothing that can compare to having your own child diagnosed with cancer.

Check out CureSearch for information on childhood cancer, important research, and the drive to secure more dollars from Congress.

Wear the pink, but remember the gold, too.