Back to School Looks Different for Kids with Cancer

The Garden reframes a familiar first-day-of-school ritual for Childhood Cancer Canada as part of its broader Let’s Face the Unimaginable brand platform

As children across Canada head back to school, Childhood Cancer Canada (CCC) and Toronto-based independent creative agency The Garden, part of the Humanise Collective, are putting a different spin on the traditional first-day-of-school photo with Back to School Looks Different for Kids with Cancer, a social campaign for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (September).

The campaign features Luca, Alice and GP, three children whose experiences with cancer have shaped their return to school. Instead of holding signs marking their grade, their signs show a stage of cancer.

Back to School Looks Different for Kids with Cancer is part of CCC’s broader Let’s Face the Unimaginable brand platform, also created by The Garden. Launched earlier this year, the platform challenges the instinct to say “I can’t imagine” when confronted with childhood cancer and asks Canadians to face the often-unseen realities experienced by children and their families.

For Luca, the week before Junior Kindergarten was supposed to begin instead brought a stage 4 Wilms tumour diagnosis. Alice was diagnosed with brain cancer at just 10 months old, while GP was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age two and spent more than 170 days in hospital during his first year of treatment.

“The first-day-of-school photo is such a familiar ritual, which made it a powerful way to show just how different back to school can look for a child with cancer and their families,” said Lindsay Eady, Executive Creative Director at The Garden. “We wanted to take something people instantly recognize and use it to reveal a reality most of us rarely see.”

The work reflects The Garden’s strategy-first approach to creative and its continued focus on partnering with organizations making a meaningful impact in their communities.

The campaign continues CCC’s efforts to show how childhood cancer affects more than a child’s health. Treatment can disrupt school, work, finances and family life, with those effects often continuing long after treatment ends.

“Supporting families facing childhood cancer requires more than one approach,” said Angie Ramalho, Executive Director, Childhood Cancer Canada. “That’s why we invest in pediatric cancer research, financial assistance, and psychosocial support programs, helping families navigate the often unseen realities of childhood cancer while improving outcomes for children and their families.”

Since its inception, CCC has invested more than $73 million in childhood cancer research, clinical trials and family support programs. In the past two years, the organization has also seen an increase of over 40% in applications for financial support from families facing childhood cancer.

Back to School Looks Different for Kids with Cancer runs across Childhood Cancer Canada’s social channels throughout Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.