Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to reflect on the challenges and needs of families facing that difficult situation.

According to Cancer.org, “About 9,620 children in the United States under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2024.”

“About 1,040 children are expected to die from the disease. Although cancer death rates for this age group have declined by 70 percent from 1970 through 2020, cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among children.”

Guest Post from Samaritan Ministries

Members of Samaritan Ministries International (Samaritan) send shares directly to fellow member families who are dealing with a number of health issues — sometimes a child’s cancer diagnosis — giving spiritual encouragement and financial help for those needs.

Cancer is consistently the top health care need that Samaritan members share.

● From 2017 through 2021, members shared $7,003,217 in cancer-related needs for members under 18.

Patients of any age who undergo cancer-related surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy may find additional help in adjunct therapies. Samaritan Ministries Guidelines allow for the sharing of many different therapy types when prescribed by a licensed medical professional — supporting not just the eradication of cancer but also healing of the body.

“Samaritan Ministries members come alongside families struggling with childhood cancer treatments and diagnoses and connect them with fellow believers who can help share their burdens,” said Samaritan Ministries Vice President and Chief Purpose Officer Anthony Hopp.

“Again and again, our members have comforted other families with notes of sympathy and prayers for healing,” Hopp said. “Jesus is the Great Healer in all matters, and we do our best to carry out His work.”

Samaritan gives people of Biblical faith an effective, Bible-driven health care community in which approximately $30 million in medical needs is shared person to person every month. For nearly three decades, Samaritan Ministries members have aided thousands of families and individuals, sharing more than $3 billion in needs while also praying for and encouraging fellow members through personal notes, cards and letters.

One Samaritan member family from Tennessee expressed their gratitude for fellow members’ support as their 6-year-old son was finishing more than two years of treatment for leukemia.

“Thank you all for being part of our family’s support system as we walked this road with Gabe,” Jill wrote in the Samaritan Ministries Community Facebook Group. “Being a Samaritan member was a huge blessing to us during this process.

“We are so proud of Gabe and his joyful spirit even during some very challenging few years. Walking beside him as his mama really has been an honor. Thank God for sustaining us through these last two years and thank God for sweet Gabriel Robert’s life. We can’t wait to see what is in store for this child.”

“Cancer at any stage of life can be devastating, but it’s especially soul-wrenching when it happens to a child,” Hopp said. “Our hearts go out to those children and their families as we observe Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.”

Since its founding in 1994, Samaritan Ministries International has helped tens of thousands of families and individuals enjoy health care freedom by allowing them to choose medical providers and treatments at reasonable cost and without network restrictions while following a biblical pattern of caring for one another’s medical needs.

● Samaritan has a membership of 268,719 individuals from 79,656 households.

● Samaritan Ministries is not health insurance, so there is no limited signup period. Government exchange-based health insurance requires signups to occur only during open enrollment periods unless one qualifies for a special enrollment period due to a “life event” such as losing coverage, getting married, moving, or having a baby.

● Samaritan Ministries members are exempt from insurance coverage mandates and penalties in those states that have them (i.e., California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.).

Samaritan Ministries health care sharingoffers additional advantages:

No network restrictions. When medical care is needed, Samaritan members choose the health care provider, hospital, and pharmacy that works best for them.
The direct-sharing approach allows members to not only help fellow believers with their medical and financial needs but to also pray for and connect with them on a regular basis.
Because of member efforts, monthly shares are hundreds of dollars less per month than health insurance premiums.

Because health care sharing is not insurance, prospective members are required before joining Samaritan to review ministry Guidelines to understand the difference.

Samaritan Ministries is accredited by the Healthcare Sharing Accreditation Board and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

To learn more about Samaritan Ministries International visit the Samaritan website at www.samaritanministries.org, or follow the ministry on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

☆☆☆☆☆