Solopress News

Go Gold To Fight Childhood Cancer

September 4, 2015

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Will you go gold to fight childhood cancer? Here’s some more information on this incredibly important campaign.

You may have noticed some changes around your town lately, not just a drop in temperature and the leaves starting to change colour. There appears to be an abundance of the colour gold in Leigh-on-Sea and here’s why.

Hattie’s Heroes

Hattie’s Haka, which was launched last year, is encouraging businesses to turn gold for September in order to raise awareness for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The Hattie’s Haka appeal was set up by her parents to help her fight against acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The charity has asked supporters to emulate the ceremonial war dance made famous by the New Zealand rugby team and film themselves in warpaint to raise awareness as well as making a small donation towards their cause. So far, Hattie’s Haka has raised almost £21,000.

Posters of Hattie, from Leigh, will be displayed by businesses across the town with an emphasis on people to not only to give donations but also to think about the way treatment for childhood cancer is funded and highlight the symptoms behind it.

Going Gold

The Go Gold idea was formulated in 1997, a group of parents started discussing the concept of a universal awareness for children with cancer that could be shown with a ribbon. Many colours were considered but after much deliberation the group decided that gold was the perfect choice in colour to represent their cause. All children are precious and of course, gold is a precious metal.

Thousands of children are diagnosed with childhood cancer every year and between the years 2008 and 2010 cancer was responsible for 17% of ALL children’s deaths between the ages 1-14 in Australia alone. Childhood cancer comes only second to breast cancer when looking at number of life years lost and going gold is a great way to bring more attention to this incredibly worthy cause.