Singapore, 28 September 2020 – The Children’s Cancer Centre at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) provides treatment and support for children and teenagers with cancer. In the month of September, it is in solidarity that KKH lights up in gold in commemoration of Childhood Cancer Awareness.

Activities held in September aim to raise awareness of childhood cancer. In Singapore, about 120 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in children under 15 years of age each year. The most common types of cancers seen in the local paediatric population include leukaemia, brain tumours, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma and Wilms Tumour.

Joining KKH to light up in gold, as part of the global campaign supported by the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), is the National Gallery of Singapore. The annual initiative by the global childhood cancer community sees monuments and buildings around the world illuminated in gold in support of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Gold is the colour used internationally to represent childhood cancer.

In August this year, the KKH Children’s Cancer Centre Facebook group went live. It set the momentum with a month of Facebook posts dispelling myths around childhood cancers, featuring patients who gallantly battled childhood cancers, cast light on some of the more common types of childhood cancers seen locally, as well as profiled members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team that works hand-in-hand with patients and caregivers on the care and treatment required.

In advocating holistic care for paediatric patients with cancers, KKH has over the years been working closely with social service agencies and charity organisations like Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF) and Arc Children’s Centre (Arc). Activities planned as part of KKH’s Childhood Cancer Awareness event include donning of gold ribbons, sponsored by CCF, by KKH staff. Together with Arc, KKH also adorned the corridors of its paediatric oncology ward with gold balloons carrying messages handwritten by children who attend Arc.

"September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to show and rally our support for patients and families impacted by childhood cancer. While the world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, our patients and families, as well as paediatric oncology teams around the world, continue the battles against childhood cancer. Through the activities lined up on social media, as well as with CCF and Arc, we hope to spread the message of hope and raise awareness on childhood cancer," said Dr Soh Shui Yen, Head and Senior Consultant, Haematology/Oncology Service, Department of Paediatric Subspecialties, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.