May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month

Every May, Brain Tumor Awareness Month shines a light on one of the most urgent challenges in childhood cancer. Brain and central nervous system tumors are the second most common pediatric cancer, and the leading cause of cancer-related death in children.

Brain tumor survivors are one of the highest at-risk groups for suffering serious late effects from treatment, which can include second cancers, hearing loss, and significant developmental delays.

“A typical lesson that should take a student 30 minutes to complete will sometimes take me three hours,” says brain tumor survivor Connor.

Diagnosed at age three, cognitive challenges would persist throughout Connor’s childhood. He sat down to do homework one day in middle school and discovered he no longer knew how to write. “My neurosurgeon described it as the brain ‘re-wiring’ itself and said it sometimes happens. We have since discovered there is a name for this: dysgraphia.”

This month, we come together to raise awareness, accelerate research, and advocate for better outcomes for every child.

How You Can Help

Take Action: Continued progress depends on sustained investment in pediatric cancer research and policies that ensure every child benefits from these breakthroughs. In 2026, Brain Tumor Awareness Month comes at a critical moment in the federal funding process, with appropriations committee markups scheduled for June. Please join us in asking your Senators and Representative to continue standing behind biomedical research and its legacy of creating hope for millions of families facing devastating diseases, including kids with brain tumors.

Spread Awareness: Find our social media toolkit at the bottom of this page for easy-to-share graphics that help raise awareness about childhood brain tumors.

Share Your Story: If you’re a brain tumor survivor, you can help us increase awareness by sharing your story with us. Your voice could be the one to encourage a family who is facing a new diagnosis, motivate a policymaker to take action, or inspire a generous benefactor with time or money who is looking for a cause to support. Share Your Story →

Make a Gift: We simply can't do our important work without you. Your support makes a real and lasting impact in the lives of children with cancer and their families.

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Signs and Symptoms

“Leading up to my diagnosis of a germinoma, I was facing many health problems including terrible migraines, insomnia, loss of motor control, paralysis, ice pick headaches, and cerebral nerve palsy,” says brain tumor survivor Genesis.

Families often experience delayed diagnosis despite early symptoms. While most of the symptoms below will have another cause, it’s important to know what to look for:

  • Morning headaches or headaches that go away after vomiting

  • Frequent nausea

  • Seizures

  • Vision, hearing, and speech problems

  • Loss of balance

  • Unusual sleepiness or change in activity level

  • Unusual changes in personality or behavior

  • In infants, an increase in the size of the head may be a warning sign.

You should check with your child’s pediatrician if you notice these symptoms and have concerns.

Pediatric Brain Tumor Facts

  • Brain tumors are the most common solid tumor in children and teens, and the second most common type of childhood cancer overall, after leukemia. Nearly 5,000 children and teens under age 20 are diagnosed with central nervous system (CNS) tumors each year in the U.S., accounting for approximately 25% of total cancer diagnoses in this age group.

  • Despite significant research progress over the last several decades, brain cancers are the leading cause of cancer deaths among children and adolescents. The survival rates for certain brain cancers remain perilously low. Today, three out of every ten childhood cancer deaths are caused by brain cancer.

  • Every year, approximately 300 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) - a brain cancer with a five-year survival rate of approximately two percent. Most children will live less than a year after a diagnosis of DIPG. DIPG primarily affects children between the ages of 5 and 10 years but can occur in younger children and teens. DIPG Awareness Day is May 17th.

 

What’s New in Research:

The cause of most childhood brain and spinal cord tumors is unknown, although we are learning more every year. A 2025 study found that aggressive medulloblastomas begin to develop very early from genetic changes in highly specialized nerve cells between the first trimester of pregnancy and the end of the first year of life.

Scientists are developing new ways to diagnose and monitor brain tumors without invasive procedures. In 2026, researchers introduced an AI-powered tool that can analyze tiny traces of tumor DNA in spinal fluid to classify brain tumors with high accuracy, helping doctors track how a tumor is responding to treatment or detect relapse earlier.

New treatments are being designed to attack the specific cells that drive tumor growth and recurrence. These advances are part of a broader shift toward precision medicine, where therapies are tailored to the biology of each child’s tumor rather than using one-size-fits-all approaches.

Together, these advances are helping shift pediatric brain tumor care toward a future that is:

  • More precise (tailored to each tumor’s biology)

  • Less invasive (with new diagnostic tools like liquid biopsy)

  • More collaborative (powered by global data sharing)

While challenges remain, especially for the most aggressive tumors, this progress is bringing us closer to safer, more effective treatments and, ultimately, cures.

Social Media Toolkit

Follow along on social media all month. Every ‘like’ and re-post helps us reach more people.

All of the following social graphics have been created by Children’s Cancer Cause for anyone to use. Right click any graphic to save it to your device for easy sharing on your social platforms. Use hashtags #BrainTumorTips, #GoGrayinMay, and #BTAM. Be sure to tag us @childrenscause!

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