Moms Can Cure Cancer

I work for the national office of the American Cancer Society, but I don't tend to talk about my employer much here at Up With Moms. There are SO many reasons for that -- everything from my initial decision to blog anonymously to the fact that I'd rather die than have anything I say or do reflect poorly on a nearly 100 year-old, highly-trusted American institution that I love and have had the pleasure to serve for almost 12 years now.

But today I'm repping my beloved ACS in the social media space. So as my worlds collide, I feel I have to break that trend at least for today to talk about a campaign I'm so proud of and one that really is in line with what Up With Moms is about. And that is the power of moms.

I've learned so much about cancer during the last 12 years. For a lay person, I'm fairly educated on the subject now -- certainly enough to be dangerous in a conversation. And I became a mom about three years into my career with ACS. So over the years, as I've learned more and more about cancer and at the same time more and more about just how influential moms are in shaping everything from the foods we eat, to the things we buy, to our social consciousness and community involvement, to our public policies to -- oh, by the way -- the next generation of human beings, it has dawned on me how central moms are in the fight against cancer.

And that brings me to our Campaign for More Birthdays. This was an opportunity for ACS to recast the fight against cancer in a fun and inspirational light, to make it about something we all really care about -- time. More time with those we love and more opportunities to honor them by celebrating the important milestones in our lives. Because isn't that what life is truly about? We have made such great progress in the fight against cancer. Eleven million Americans with a history of cancer, including me, will celebrate a birthday this year. My own personal survival yielded not only more birthdays for me, but all of my kids' birthdays. Because if I hadn't survived my disease 16 birthdays ago, neither of my beautiful girls would be alive today.

But creating a world with more birthdays, a world where cancer never steals another year from anyone's life, will take more than just sending our valiant researchers into a lab to find cures. It will take all of us putting what we've learned about cancer from those researchers into current practice to stay well -- living healthy lifestyles to reduce cancer risk and taking advantage of early detection testing to find cancer at its earliest, most treatable stage. It will take finding the right resources when someone we love is confronted with a cancer diagnosis to help them get well. It will require that we hold our lawmakers accountable for doing their part and that we rally our communities to fight back against the disease.

So who better to do that than our nation's moms? If not us, then who?

So, moms, looks like we've got another thing to put on the heaping to-do list. And it's a biggie. But not to worry -- ACS will make it easy and alot of fun. Besides, this one's got a great payoff. More birthdays equals more parties. And we all know we moms love a good party.

So join the movement for more birthdays by declaring the American Cancer Society the official sponsor of your birthday at morebirthdays.com. Together we can save lives and make more parties to plan.

Disclaimer: Views expressed here are my own and NOT (necessarily) that of the American Cancer Society. Especially the headline which was chosen for effect and not scientific accuracy.

Moms Can Cure Cancer