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Here are a few facts and statistics about various conditions and illnesses that affect our children today.

• "25,000 children a year are diagnosed with life threatening illnesses" *(1)

•"About 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born deaf or hard-of-hearing." *(2)

• "Cerebral palsy is a serious birth injury that affects more than 5,000 children in the United States each year. This type of birth injury compromises the body's ability to control movement and posture and often results in seizures, intellectual impairment, behavioral problems, hearing deficits and vision disorders." *(3) 

• "Cancer is the leading cause of disease-related deaths in children under the age of 20. Every year, about 12,400 children and teens under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer, and approximately 2,300 children die." *(4)
 
• "Spina Bifida is the most frequently occurring permanently disabling birth defect affecting approximately one out of every 1,000 newborns in the United States." *(5)

• "People can get leukemia at any age. In 2007, about and 40,440 adults and 3,800 children are expected to develop leukemia." *(6)

• "Approximately 4,000 children with Down syndrome are born in the U.S. each year, or about 1 in every 800 to 1,000 live births." *(7)

• "There are approximately 55,200 legally blind children in the United States." *(8)

*Information was obtained from various online sources credited below.
(1) http://www.GKTW.com
(2) http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/hearing.asp
(3) http://www.personalinjuryfyi.com/cerebral-palsy/cp-causes.html
(4) http://healthyamericans.org/topics/index.php?TopicID=11
(5) http://www.sbaa.org/site/c.liKWL7PLLrF/b.2725873/k.6980/Spotlight_On_Spina_Bifida.htm
(6) http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=7026
(7) http://www.healthnewsflash.com/conditions/down_syndrome.php
(8) http://www.clovernook.org/a_stats.aspx