September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is known as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Amazon, Inc. is raising awareness by delivering millions of uniquely designed boxes featuring the gold ribbon – the international symbol of childhood cancer – empowering customers to join in the fight one box at a time! In collaboration with the American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO), Amazon has chosen to once again #GoGold for the month of September to help raise awareness for young innovators battling cancer.

(ELIZABETH WEIDNER)

Elizabeth Weidner, a Junior at Teutopolis High School, has been chosen to be one of four 2020 world-wide ambassadors to promote this partnership. She has been extremely dedicated to raising awareness, advocating for increased research, and fundraising activities for a variety of organizations locally, state-wide, and nationally since her diagnosis of Stage IV High Risk Neuroblastoma in January of 2016. During her years-long battle, she has relapsed twice, most recently in January of 2020, with this highly aggressive disease. Although she has been given the unthinkable to manage at a young age, she continues to hope and fight for a better tomorrow alongside families across the United States! 

To show support for children and their families who have been impacted by childhood cancer, Amazon has wrapped one of its Amazon Airplanes in GOLD. The plane will take to the skies and deliver packages to customers across the nation, bringing a little bit of gold (and hope) everywhere it goes, dubbed operation #DeliveringSmiles. Ms. Weidner will be featured on various media platforms on behalf of both ACCO and Amazon. 

Children receiving a diagnosis of cancer may lose their hair but never lose their sense of childlike wonder and imagination. For many children affected by cancer, these curiosities are fueled by expert knowledge of their medical treatment as well as technological interest spurred by long hospital stays and time spent in bed. Opportunities to play outside may be limited, but their desire to build, imagine, innovate, and create is limitless. As a result of Weidner’s journey, she aspires to pursue a career as a pediatric oncology nurse working at a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital where she experiences first-hand the complexities of this disease. A mentor to families, teenagers, and young children navigating their own journeys, she is often described as someone who has courage, strength, and influence that inspires even adults battling this disease. Currently a patient at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, treatment services are collaborated with SSM Cardinal Glennon and St. Louis Children’s Hospitals respectively. 

The honors student's involvement with FFA (Future Farmers of America) allowed her to pursue a Supervised Agricultural Experience in Service Learning paired with leadership and public speaking skills she gained in 4-H growing her voice as an advocate. In 2018, she was the featured prologue in the award-winning docu-series, The Promise: The Truth Behind Childhood Cancer, and is currently waiting for the remaining episodes to debut. She is most proud of the platform she developed, Crowns Fight Cancer, as the result of being a title holder in various pageant systems, including the Miss Illinois County Fair and Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization, a sister competition of Miss America. Thousands follow her inspiring journey on Facebook/Instagram, including Miss Conneticut Jillian Duffy (4th runner up at Miss America), whom was a teenage cancer survivor herself! 

She currently holds the title of Miss Central Illinois’ Outstanding Teen 2020. Elizabeth resides in Dieterich, Illinois, the daughter of Matthew and Jennifer Weidner. She has one older brother, Ethan, and two younger brothers, Eric and Evan. In her free time, she enjoys pursuing her passions of dance, writing, reading, raising showpigs, and travelling. Weidner is looking forward to an upcoming trip with Make-A-Wish to Greece, once travel restrictions lift. 

This month, Amazon will also host “Camp Amazon” in robotics fulfillment centers across the nation to engage children diagnosed with cancer who demonstrate an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for a day of activities. The fulfillment center will turn “gold” for the occasion and children will get the opportunity to see how Amazon robots help to deliver smiles to customers around the world first hand. On behalf of these children, Amazon will also make donations to pediatric oncology programs across America committed to saving their lives.

As discovered last year, hope actually can be found in a box! This month, millions of Amazon customers will once again receive a special edition box featuring the gold ribbon, the international symbol of childhood cancer. If you receive an Amazon Goes Gold box this month, please share a selfie holding the box on your Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook accounts, tagging both Amazon and the American Childhood Cancer Organization!