With LIVESTRONG Day (May 16th) right around the corner, I thought this would be a good time to ask Doug Ulman (President of the LAF) to make a series of posts about the war on cancer: where we are, what the LAF has done and how we plan to move forward.

LIVESTRONG,

Lance

In our collective war with cancer, first waged over 36 years ago by Richard Nixon, we have made great progress. During this time the number of cancer survivors has tripled. Diagnostics like the mammogram are widely available to screen women for breast cancer. In fact, a recent mammogram saved my mom’s life and she began six weeks of radiation treatment today following her surgery to remove her breast tumor. Similar to my mom, a PSA saved my dad’s life from prostate cancer two years ago. Both are examples of great progress.

We should all be proud – extremely proud. I am proud to call my parents survivors. Yet we should also be cautious. Cautious because given the knowledge and tools that our nation has developed, we are not progressing fast enough. We need to be making greater progress.

We deserve better progress. We need to save lives, to improve access to care, to improve quality of life and to invest in our nation’s health and we should not rest until we realize this progress that eludes us. It eludes us largely due to a lack of political will. That’s right – the “political will” to do what’s right. Up to now, everything that this nation has done to address the cancer burden has been necessary – yet not nearly sufficient.

Cancer is now the number one killer of Americans under the age of 85. It will take 1500 people – today and everyday – from our lives. It will strike more than 40% of the American population. 

It is time for us to start fighting back and not rest until sufficient attention, resources and political will are invested. It is time to demand more progress and it is time for us all to actively participate.

Doug