Fact #6
Although often not discussed, brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths for children under the age of 20 – recently surpassing leukemia.
In addition, brain tumors are now the leading cause of death for all childhood solid tumor cancers, accounting for 24% of cancer-related deaths in 1997 among persons up to 19 years of age.
Although children have one of the highest five-year survival rates, the effects of the tumor and/or the medical treatments used to eliminate the tumor can cause many long-term side effects.
