Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide information and awareness for children and adolescents with cancer and their families, to advocate for their needs, and to support research so every child survives and leads a long and healthy life.

While treatment for childhood cancer has improved drastically over the past 38 years of our organization’s existence from less than 20 percent survival to an approximate 75 percent overall five year cure rate, sadly childhood cancer remains the number one disease killer of our nation’s children.

Children face aggressive treatments leaving a trail of devastation for their families. The diagnosis of a child with cancer is often at a time when the family is young and has a limited income. Often there are other small children to care for. Often one parent has to stop working to care for their sick child. The impact of having a child diagnosed with cancer is deeply felt financially, socially, and emotionally by the entire family. The needs are great and since our inception in 1970, Candlelighters has become a recognized leader both nationally and internationally in the providing pediatric cancer family support.

What We Do

We are the largest publisher and distributor of free childhood cancer books in the country. We host the largest national childhood cancer awareness event each December holiday season. We represent childhood cancer on numerous cancer organizations and to members of Congress on Capitol Hill; and we support cutting edge research that leads to new and better treatments for our nation’s littlest cancer patients.

As the largest childhood cancer grassroots organization in the country, we know first hand that "kids can't fight cancer alone!"