As much as we loved the report published this month about a record drop in cancer deaths, we cannot forget the horrible toll this disease continues to take.
Tonight, we learned of yet another casualty of this cruel disease. Wyatt Spann, a 4-year-old from Winfield, Ala., died today after fighting medulloblastoma for the past year.
We never met Wyatt or his family. But we were touched by his story, which we followed on social media and shared on this site during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
Wyatt’s story resonated with so many, and particularly with those of us who have had cancer or who have loved someone with the disease. We watched as his parents journeyed back and forth between hope and despair, and we prayed daily for hope to win.
We are so sad that Wyatt’s fight has come to a heartbreaking end.
His story serves as a reminder that we still have a long way to go in our fight against cancer.
The decrease in cancer deaths reported by the American Cancer Society was attributed largely to fewer deaths from lung cancer, which is good news indeed. There’s other good news as well. The survival rate for many cancers has improved, and some new therapies offer hope to patients who at one time would have been considered hopeless. Many people are living longer and better despite their disease.
But we can’t let up, not when we are still losing too many beloved children, parents, spouses, siblings and friends to this disease. Every one of these deaths is one too many.
May Wyatt rest in peace; may the rest of us rise up to carry on his fight.