The cause
Childhood cancer is underfunded, widely misunderstood, and life-altering for every family it touches. Understanding it is the first step to changing it — and a major reason Gold Rush Cure exists.
the Facts
It is more than 13 major types and over 200 subtypes1 — each with its own diagnosis, treatment, and toll.
Here is what the families we serve are up against.
children and adolescents are estimated to be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20.2
It is often called rare — but for the family living it, there is nothing rare about a child’s cancer diagnosis.
major types · 200+ subtypes1
From leukemias and brain tumors to neuroblastoma and bone cancers, each demands its own research and care.
70 years
Approximately 70 potential life years lost when a child dies of cancer compared to 14 potential years lost for adults3.
85,480
new cases in 20254
Estimated new cancer cases among adolescents and young adults in the United States this year alone.
Only about 4% of federal cancer research funding goes to childhood cancer5 — even though cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children under 20.6 The rest is left to families, foundations, and advocates to fill.
the siblings
When cancer enters a family, siblings often carry a quieter burden. Routines change, focus shifts to their siblings’ treatment, and they can be left holding fear and loneliness on their own.
Some feel anxious or overlooked in the process. But their needs don’t disappear. That’s why every Pot of Gold supports siblings too — never just the patient.
Thank you for everything Gold Rush Cure Foundation. This kind gesture means so much to me and my family and you guys made my day. You guys brightened our life during hard times like this by showing support for my family. This motivates me to fight stronger beside my brother and win this cancer battle.
Brandon
Childhood Cancer Sibling · California
the families
A diagnosis doesn’t just threaten a child’s health — it upends a family’s finances, work, and sense of normal. What they need, alongside treatment, is hope and encouragement.
Treatment forces parents to cut hours, change jobs, or stop working — just when costs are highest.
A Pot of Gold says, in the middle of the hardest season: you are seen, you are cheered on, you are not alone.
We show up for parents and siblings too — because cancer is fought by everyone in the family.
why we rush
Every statistic on this page was once just numbers to us, too — until childhood cancer entered our own family. Christian faced his fight head-on, and worried more about the other kids on the hospital floor than about himself.
1–4 Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2), Childhood Cancer Fact Library — cancer types & subtypes, incidence, average age at diagnosis, 2025 AYA case estimates (cac2.org). Childrens Cancer Cause Facts 5–6 National Cancer Institute (NCI) and childhood-cancer advocacy organizations — share of federal cancer research funding to pediatric cancer; leading cause of death by disease under age 20 (cancer.gov). 7 Published research on the financial impact of childhood cancer on families. Figures are presented for awareness and may be updated as new data is published; please verify against the original sources before reuse.
