Cancer is a word that conjures up many different images and emotions. Nothing in the world can prepare a person for the utter devastation of finding out that someone has been diagnosed with cancer, especially if that person is a child. Over the past twenty-five years, the number of researches and the survival rate of children with cancer have increased significantly. Despite these successes, funding for new research needed to keep these children alive and healthy is minimal and overly reliant on short-term grants. Of the billions of dollars spent each year on cancer treatments and research, less than a third is dedicated to pediatric cancer research. Given the media attention given to adult cancers, pediatric cancer research is underfunded. To maintain the increasing survival rate of children with pediatric cancer and support those who have survived the disease, better funding is essential to further develop and promote research. Government funding has proven to be essential and effective in the fight against cancer. On December 23, 1971, President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, which promised to fund the search for a cure. Financial assistance like this has directly benefited the survival rates of people diagnosed with cancer. Forty years ago, before such funding was provided, when a child was diagnosed with cancer, most doctors considered the patient to be terminally ill and supportive care was almost the only thing offered to them. the family. However, in recent decades, through research and participation in funded clinical trials, the majority of children have been cured. Due to the creation of new drugs and therapies with government assistance, the survival rat...... middle of paper ...... 2003. USA Today. February 26, 2011. Janes-Hodder, Jonna and Nancy Keene. Childhood cancer: parents' guide to solid tumor cancers. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1999.McCaul, Michael. Pediatric cancer unfortunately remains underfunded. September 16, 2010. Capitol Hill Publishing Company. February 24, 2011. Pediatric Cancer Foundation. About pediatric cancer. 2010. February 10, 2011. Rafinski, Karen. Cancer and children. March 14, 1999. February 10, 2011. Steen, Grant R. and Joseph Mirro. Childhood Cancer: A Handbook from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publisher, 2000. Swati, Majumder. Facts about childhood cancer. February 10 2011 .