Help make this cancer's last century!

As the official sponsor of birthdays, the American Cancer Society knows how important each and every birthday can be.  To a cancer survivor, a birthday means more memories, more milestones and more time with those they love.

On Wednesday, May 22, the American Cancer Society will celebrate our 100th birthday.  Over the past century, the American Cancer Society has made much progress in the fight against cancer.  Sixty years ago, only 1 in 3 people diagnosed with cancer survived.  Today, 2 in 3 people diagnosed survive.  We’ve seen the cancer death rate decrease 20 percent, with over 1.2 million cancer deaths being averted since the early 1990s thanks to the progress we’ve made together.

The American Cancer Society has funded over $3.8 billion in cancer research since 1946 and has been a part of nearly every major cancer breakthrough, from showing the effectiveness of mammograms and pap smears, to the development of drugs like Tamoxifen, Herceptin and Gleevec that are used to treat leukemia and breast cancer.  The Society funded research that determined the link between obesity and cancer and our work has helped lead to a 50 percent drop in smoking rates since the 1960s, contributing to an overall drop in lung cancer death rates.

The Society also provides services to cancer patients and their families to help ease the burden of a cancer diagnosis by getting patients the help they need when they need it.  Last year, 3,400 cancer patients in the Hudson Valley Region received a program or service provided by the American Cancer Society.  Services include patient navigation, lodging when receiving treatment away from home at a Hope Lodge, transportation assistance through Road to Recovery, Look Good…Feel Better, information, wigs and more.

Because of the tremendous progress we’ve made together, over 14 million cancer survivors will celebrate a birthday this year.  In fact, every day more than 400 people celebrate birthdays that would have otherwise been lost to this disease.  We’ve come a long way in the fight against cancer, but we want to make this cancer’s last century.  And we can’t do it alone.

Progress comes when we speak out, when we make noise.  Silence won’t finish the fight against cancer.  Only action will.  So on the eve of this milestone birthday, I invite you to take action.  Our 100th birthday is not a time to rest – it is a time to take more action and make some noise.

Here are some ways you can help finish the fight:

• Participate in Relay For Life or Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.  We have two community Relay For Life events coming up on June 8 at Rockland Community College (www.relayforlife.org/rocklandny) and June 14 at the Central Avenue Field in Pearl River (www.relayforlife.org/orangetownny).  Form a team of family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances and join us as we celebrate cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost and come together as a community to fight cancer. 
• Volunteer on a local planning committee, help drive patients to treatment or serve as a Community Resource Volunteer at a local hospital.
• Make a donation.
• Enroll in the Cancer Prevention Study-3 and be a part of this nationwide research study aimed at determining cancer’s causes and ways to prevent cancer.  Visit www.cancer.org/cps3 for more information.