Cancer survivor says, Cancer Sucks!

A local organization said cancer is a nationwide epidemic and it sucks.

Imperial Valley Cancer Support Center is organizing the event “Cancer Sucks” to raise funds for people fighting the disease.

National studies report cancer kills nearly 700,000 people a year.

The event features a 12-year-old boy talking about childhood cancer and how the disease changed his family’s life forever.

Center Director and cancer survivor Oreda Chin said the number of local people with cancer keeps increasing. She fears some people are still reluctant to get tested which makes it more difficult to help them. She said each day nationwide 43 families will hear the words, ‘your child has cancer’.

“In the valley, it is an epidemic. People are being diagnosed at all different times of all different types of cancers. And there are studies being done on what are the causes of some of them. Many of them are genetic,” Chin said.

The “Cancer Sucks” event is on Friday, September 28 at Hidalgo Hall in Brawley from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. All proceeds go to local cancer patients.

For more information, visit their Facebook page.

Please watch our newscast for more details.