(KVEO) This year an estimated 1.6 million Americans will be
diagnosed with cancer and more than 580,000 will die from it.
However, there is an even more alarming statistic. Among
Hispanics, cancer has now overtaken heart disease as the leading
killer. This also includes a rise among kids with cancer. "The
number is rising and it is not going away, well as we are the
Rio Grande Valley is primarily Hispanic and unfortunately we
have continued to see the level of childhood cancer in Hispanics
rise," says Victoria Guerra of the Vannie E. Cook JR. Children's
Cancer and Hematology Clinic in McAllen, Texas. Victoria Vasquez
was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 12. "You know it just
happened so fast, but a good thing is that my daughter was
referred to this clinic, we didn't have to move out of the
valley." Said Aurora Vasquez, Victoria's mother. The American
Cancer Society also says Hispanics are more likely to struggle
with cancers of the stomach, liver, cervix, and gallbladder in
contrast to other races and m