Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast!

Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast on February 18th

If you’ve ever wanted to dish up a bowl of your favorite ice cream for breakfast rather than your usual bowl of oatmeal, February 18th is the day to do it! And while Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast is a day that gives you permission to indulge in one of life’s little pleasures for breakfast, the real goal of the day is to increase awareness about childhood cancer. 

How Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Began

Inspired by Malia Grace Peterson, Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day honors kids fighting childhood cancer annually on February 18th. When Malia passed away at the age of 9 after a long fight with cancer, her family wanted to do something to commemorate her birthday. So in the spirit of Malia’s creativity and love of ice cream, they invited friends and family to eat ice cream for breakfast on her birthday. In fact, what began as a small group of friends and family quickly grew into a way for people all over the world to honor and support kids who have fought and are fighting cancer.

If you want to join in, it’s easy. Just take a selfie of yourself enjoying ice cream for breakfast on February 18th and post it to Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast’s Facebook page or website. You can use the hashtags #KidsGetCancerToo and #IceCreamForBreakfast.

Why Mikey’s Way is eating ice cream for breakfast

We hope you’ll fill a big bowl of your favorite ice cream and join us at the breakfast table to help raise awareness about childhood cancer.  Here’s why it’s so important:

  • Cancer remains the #1 cause of death by disease for children in America.
  • Approximately 1 in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday.
  • Each year in the U.S. alone, 15,780 children aged 0-19 will be diagnosed with cancer.
  • Approximately 40,000 children in the U.S. are on active treatment at any given time.
  • Globally there are more than 400,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year.
  • 20% of children with cancer in the U.S. will not survive it.
  • Two thirds of childhood cancer survivors face at least one of the following: Secondary Cancers; Heart Damage; Lung Damage; Infertility; Chronic Hepatitis; Alterations in Growth and Development; Impaired Cognitive Abilities; Psycho-Social Impact.
  • One quarter of childhood cancer survivors face a late effect from treatment that is classified as severe or life-threatening.
  • Worldwide, a child is diagnosed with cancer every three minutes.

*The statistics are from American Childhood Cancer Organization.

For more information about childhood cancer visit our blog post category childhood cancer awareness.