Originally published on Aflac Newsroom

September is National Childhood Cancer and National Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month. Sadly, nearly 10,000 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and about 1 in every 365 Black or African American babies in the U.S. are born with sickle cell disease — about 1 in 13 are born with the trait. With this in mind, Aflac is on a mission to assist families and provide tips for how you can help bring some relief for those who are impacted.

Here are a few ideas on how you can comfort families when they need it most:

1. Provide a meal. It can be home-cooked, delivered from a restaurant, or a voucher for a meal delivery service. You can also share store-bought or homemade baked goods.
    
2. Spend time together. Take a walk, see a movie together, offer to be a listening ear or just sit in silence together.
    
3. Send a message of support. Share gentle empathy with a card, note, text, voicemail, email or private social media message.
    
4. Offer to help with tasks. Ask if you can help clean their home, do laundry, water plants, get groceries, care for pets, take their car for a wash, or pick up their mail or newspapers.
    
5. Help with caregiving responsibilities. Offer to babysit or stay with their other children while keeping things as normal as possible. If you have children of your own, set up a playdate.
    
6. Drop off a favorite comfort item. Consider a magazine, book or board game.

“It’s easy to ask, ‘Can I help?’ But for those in the midst of a treatment journey — whether it’s their own or a loved one’s — it can be tough to determine what they need in that moment,” said Buffy Swinehart, senior manager, Aflac Corporate Social Responsibility. “Instead, try offering specific acts of service like, ‘Can I send you some dinner?’ or ‘Can I take care of the kids or pets this evening?’ This way, the other person can simply say yes or no.”

Want more information on how you can lend a hand to those in need? Visit Aflac.com/BridgeToBrighter for inspirational stories about My Special Aflac Duck^®, an award-winning, free robotic, comforting companion, that provides comfort and joy and is clinically proven to help reduce stress for kids and for parents. You can even request one for a child age 3 or older with pediatric cancer or sickle cell. You can download tips for providing comfort to families in need (available in English and Spanish), as well as images that you can share on social media to encourage your followers to help inspire action.

Since 1995, Aflac has been committed to help support those who care for children with cancer and blood disorders like sickle cell disease. Over the last three decades, the company has donated more than $184 million to these causes. But the support isn’t just monetary, Aflac also created My Special Aflac Duck in 2018 to provide children with cancer comfort through a robotic companion designed to help them express their emotions and help normalize medical procedures. In 2022, the company adapted My Special Aflac Duck with special accessories to support children with sickle cell disease. To date, Aflac has distributed more than 32,000 of these ducks — free of charge — to children ages 3 and up with cancer or sickle cell.

Join us in building a bridge to a brighter future at Aflac.com/BridgeToBrighter.

This content is for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation for insurance. Aflac includes Aflac and/or Aflac New York and/or Continental American Insurance Company and/or Continental American Life Insurance Company.

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