September is a hard month in general, but when you can relate to what the month represents, it is harder.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

I can relate to it because one of my favorite humans is going through this.

That human is my five-year-old cousin, Logan Christensen.

You see, Logan has a brain tumor.

Experiencing this, I realized society places a certain stigma on everything.

The truth is, you will never understand why or how.

The tumor Logan has is pushing up against his optic nerve, which caused him to go blind in one eye.

The doctors are trying to shrink the tumor, but because of its location, they cannot operate on it.

I am not telling you this because I want you to feel bad or sorry for a five-year-old you do not know.

I am telling you this because this month I am going gold for all the children fighting cancer.

So, why gold?

Well, because childhood cancer is represented by a gold ribbon. It represents them being precious and resilient.

I have seen adults go through cancer, and it is hard to watch, but seeing a child you love and adore go through it is so much worse.

The last time I saw Logan, he was doing amazing compared to what the doctors have said to us.

Logan is your typical five-year-old and absolutely loves superheroes, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By the way, his favorite is Donatello.

There is a stigma of people saying “oh, well I am sorry to hear that,” or “I hope they get better.”

Even though they say it in a nice way, all I hear is sarcasm.

My truth is, cancer is not a stigma, especially for a child.

They, like anyone else, have their good days and bad days.

So why does society treat it like a stigma?

I have no idea.

However, I do know that adults could learn a lot from kids.

Logan has been battling his tumor for a while now, and you would never be able to tell, because of how happy he is.

I hope everyone that knows a kid battling cancer goes gold for the month of September, and even if you do not know a child with cancer, you can still go gold.

Katelyn Eddington is a senior journalism major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or at kdeddington@eiu.edu.