In honor of Aubey Bonnichsen, who was a freshman at Sturgis Brown High School when she died 2-1/2 years ago from brainstem cancer, the Meade School District is recognizing Friday, September 13, as Gold Ribbon Awareness Day. Gold ribbons, the international symbol for childhood cancer, will be distributed to students and staff of the Meade School District. This universal awareness ribbon was selected because just as gold is a precious metal, children are also precious. Gold ribbons will also be available Friday evening at the high school football game at Woodle Field. Every year, thousands of children across America are diagnosed with cancer. It is the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 15. According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, pediatric cancer kills more children than asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and AIDS combined. Every day, approximately two classrooms of children are diagnosed with a childhood cancer, and every day seven will die from it. “We thought since this would have been Aubrey’s senior year, it would be a perfect time to honor her fight with cancer and help spread awareness in the schools and community about childhood cancer,” said her mother Brenda Bonnichsen. “One thing led to another and we were able to meet with the administration from all three Sturgis schools, and all were on board with our idea of participating in National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month this month,” she said. As a result of the efforts by Brenda, her husband Tim and daughter Chloe, all schools in Meade School District are involved in a variety of activities to help spread awareness of the disease and highlight efforts to reduce its toll on children. “Our hope is that someday, the gold ribbon will be as well recognized as the pink ribbon,” said Brenda. “We sincerely thank those who are making this happen in our school district and community.”
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 20:02:51 +0000