Join The Fight [Now!]
Most people don’t think much about cancer – and the progress being made to combat it – until they are personally or directly impacted. It is so easy to go through the day-to-day operations of life without considering the horrible impact that cancer has on so many people. But when cancer comes to your doorstep, or to the doorstep of someone close to you, what will you do? What action will you take?
I have had many people in my close sphere be impacted by cancer. My grandfather passed from cancer when I was 14, and his sweet wife (my Nana) recently had her own battle with breast cancer. My second cousin, a beautiful soul and mother to two young children passed just last year from breast cancer. Two aunts are currently and thankfully in remission from breast cancer. The list includes several other friends, close colleagues and other acquaintances, as well. In each case, I made the one-time donation, ran the 5-K, wore the ribbons, made the signs, and sent my love and prayers. Those things surely were appreciated and, I hope, made an impact in the race toward a cure.
But I always felt like I could have done more.
Today, as a cancer patient, I would do anything to help move the needle toward more effective treatment. If I could turn back time, I would sacrifice everything to simply lower the chance that I may not be here for my husband and my boys.
As I type this, it feels selfish… Could I have done more? Would I have done more if I knew then that cancer would be in my future? This is why I am driven to urge each and every one of you to act NOW. Do anything and everything you can to join the fight against cancer. According to Medical News Today, every 1 in 2 women and every 1 in 3 men in the US will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetimes. In 2018, in the US alone, over 18 million people were diagnosed with cancer. To be clear, cancer is not rare.
While I hate to be grim, the fact is that if you don’t face cancer personally at some point in your life, it is likely someone very close to you will. Don’t wait until then to start contributing to the critical research and innovation. Serious progress is being made. Massive breakthroughs are happening now, or are just around the corner. I will keep highlighting those breakthroughs, as well as the resources needed to continue pushing the envelope, throughout the blog section of Ten for Ten Million. In the meantime, find a way to contribute. And do it now. Do it for me, or for your grandparent or your aunt or your cousin. Or, God-forbid, your child or future children. I’ll say it again: cancer is not rare. But it is real, and it will take all of us to beat it.
God Bless.
