Lessons from the LIVESTRONG Summit

My name is Eric Perakslis and I am a PhD, kidney cancer survivor and long-time LAF supporter. This year already, I have run the Boston Marathon and the Nike Human race and will also run the New York Marathon all in support of the LAF.

This year I also attended the LIVESTRONG Summit in Columbus, OH where I learned many things about how to be a successful grassroots advocate. And I thought you all might be interested in hearing how I have applied my experiences and learning’s from the Summit into the development of a Dream Team proposal for the STAND UP TO CANCER (SU2C) initiative.

S2UC is breaking ground on many exciting fronts and one of these is the suggested inclusion of cancer advocates onto each Dream Team. Right now the best and brightest are pulling together Dream Team proposals to compete for the S2UC funds and including skilled survivors and advocates may make the difference for the winning teams.

As an advocate, I feel I am still learning but the LIVESTRONG SUMMIT has been transformational for me and I apply the lessons learned everyday. When approached by the proposed Dream Team leader, I first assessed the possible impact of the role. If they were looking for ‘advocate window dressing’, I wasn’t the right guy. I am better at prioritizing my time now and I am much more selective with potential impact as my major criteria on how I invest my advocate hours. Next, I interrogated why they wanted me. I soon learned that the focus and purpose made sense given my interests, education and background. So, deciding to join this group made sense and was easy.

Now the real, and less familiar, work began. How could I use my role to get our Dream Team attention and funded? Again, lessons from the Advocacy track at the LIVESTRONG Summit have made the difference. Prior to the Summit, I had never written a press release. I had never called a media outlet and asked for airtime and I had never truly evaluated the power and opportunity of my personal and professional networks. I am now doing all this and more.

As for status, so far so good. We have our S2UC proposal ready to go and I am currently seeking as much attention as I can for S2UC and our proposal. You can read our proposal here – hopefully it will serve as some inspiration to others and example of advocacy in action.

Best regards,
Eric