The Dear Jack Foundation

--Incidence rates for all types of leukemia are higher among males than among females.

--Leukemia is one of the top 15 most frequently occurring cancers in all races or ethnicities.

--ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia) is the most common cancer in children 1 to 7 years old. The incidence of ALL among 1- to 4-year-old children is nearly eight times greater than the rate for young adults 20 to 24 years.

--Survival statistics have improved significantly over the past four decades. Most children under 19 with ALL will become five-year survivors of the disease.

--The cause of leukemia is not known.

--It is anticipated that approximately 21,870 deaths in the United States will be attributed to leukemia in 2009 (12,590 males and 9,280 females).

--In 2009, in the United States, leukemia will be the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths in men and the seventh most common in women.

--The five-year relative survival rate has nearly quadrupled in the past 48 years for patients with leukemia.

**All information is directly from http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/