Bloggers for More Birthdays

I've written before how I believe that moms can cure cancer. I absolutely believe they can. Now so can bloggers. And not just mom bloggers -- bloggers of all stripes. If you have a blog, you too can cure cancer.

As we now know, blogs and microblogs can be a powerful platforms. Lives have been saved and great causes have been supported through the words and wisdom shared on blogs. Now the American Cancer Society and its brand new Blogger Advisory Council are hoping to ignite an ongoing conversation about cancer in the blogosphere through a new initiative called "Bloggers for More Birthdays." People need to know more about what they can do in the cancer fight. Information and inspiration must be shared so lives can be saved.

"Bloggers for More Birthdays" is kicking off the effort by asking everyone to simply dedicate posts to those we love who have been affected by cancer. Sharing these stories will remind us why the fight against cancer is so important and inspire us to take an active role in the movement for more birthdays.

So if you love blogging, but hate cancer, I hope you'll grab a badge and add your voice to the cause. It's a great way to get visibility for your blog and it'll help create a world where cancer never steals another year from anyone's life.

Bloggers for More Birthdays

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