What a difference 100 years can make

How many times have you said, “a hundred years from now, it won’t make a difference?”

If 15 physicians and business men in New York City in 1913 had said “It won’t make a difference in a hundred years”, and went on their merry way instead of raising awareness about cancer, the American Cancer Society (then called the American Society for the Control of Cancer) would not have been born. Those men began the fight of a lifetime, a fight to make a difference, the fight against cancer — a fight for you!

In 1936, “what difference” meant the fight would continue when the Women’s Field Army, an organization of women, took to the streets to educate people about cancer and raise money to saves lives. Their contributions were monumental in the building blocks of the American Cancer Society.

“What difference” starting in 1946 was startling. The great Research Race was launched. Philanthropist Mary Lasker and her colleagues revolutionized how the society would establish fundraising efforts. They raised $4 million, a sizeable sum even today! A million of those dollars went to research. In 1947, the first successful chemotherapy treatment for cancer was discovered by researcher Dr. Sidney Farber, producing remissions in children with leukemia — a fight that continues today with monies raised through programs like Relay For Life, Bark For Life, Coaches for a Cure and other American Cancer Society programs.

“What difference” continued as correlations showed that research saves lives. That’s why 40 percent of monies raised go to help fund research – to save 1 in 2 men’s lives and 1 in 3 women’s lives. One year after Dr. Farber’s discovery, in 1948, the Cancer Society pushed for the wide adoption of the PAP smear, which has resulted in a 70 percent decrease in uterine and cervical cancers. The year 1973 would indicate mammography to be the best tool for early detection of breast cancer, one more way that research and the “war on Cancer” via the National Cancer Act passing, would help cancer deaths to decrease — a number that today, we in the United States, celebrate a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates.

We’ve all seen the ads and commercials (started in 1954) about the link of smoking and lung cancer. Since then, there’s been a drop in smoking by 50 percent, the annual Great American Smokeout stared in 1976 and cities like Anchorage, Nome and Palmer have gone smoke-free, creating healthier environments and in many instances increasing business revenue.

The American Cancer Society can boast it has 47 Nobel Prize Laureates. One laureate discovered the first use of molecularly targeted therapy; several discovered the high-risk link of obesity contributing to various cancers; other laureates discovered cancer drugs Gleevac and Tamoxifen.

In 2006, ACS-CAN, the advocacy arm, started so your voices could be heard by legislators — local, state and in Washington, D.C.

Last year alone, the American Cancer Society assisted more than 1 million people who called 1-800-227-2345 (1-800-ACS-2345), where a live person is available to them 24/7 to answer questions and direct them to needed help. The website cancer.org is another resource, one that Alaskans access more than 3,333 times per month!

The American Cancer Society helps cancer patients get help where they need it, bet that a wig, rides to appointments (Rides to Recovery), emotional support through Reach To Recovery, help with airfare or free places to stay while travelling for treatment at Hope Lodges — a home away from home for cancer patients and their caregivers started in 1970. Our local Hope Lodge is the Hickel House, by Providence Hospital in Anchorage. It helps businesses and schools with wellness and prevention programs.

The American Cancer Society knows the importance of each and every birthday. That is why it is committed not just for people in America, but for people everywhere. Programs like Relay For Life are held in more than 26 countries. Other countries look to our American Cancer Society.

Who makes a 100-year difference to the Mat-Su?

• You: The American Cancer Society is the largest volunteer driven nonprofit organization!

• You: With your donations and your time, your volunteer help driving patients or helping with support groups.

While the last 100 years have been phenomenal, it is not time to stop. Now is the time to finish the fight. It’s time to get loud with the message that research saves lives, cancer screenings work, put on sunscreen and stop smoking!

Let’s do our part, Mat-Su. Let’s make a difference to continue to lead the way, working tirelessly to transform cancer from deadly to treatable and from treatable to preventable. Four hundred people a day in the United States are celebrating birthdays that 100 years ago would have been lost to the disease. Two out of three people are surviving at least five years from diagnosis.

Let’s finish the fight against cancer Mat-Su. See you at the finish line.

Care Tuk is an 11-time cancer patient and advocate for cancer survivors and caregivers.

The American Cancer Society celebrates its 100th birthday on May 22. During the last century, ACS has led the way in saving lives and creating more birthday. Today, 2 out of 3 people diagnosed with cancer are surviving. As the official sponsors of birthdays, ASC knows how important each and every birthday is, that’s why it’s embarking on the organization’s most ambitious undertaking yet.

With your help, the American Cancer Society wants to finish the fight against cancer and make this cancer’s last century. ACS dreams of a day when 3 out of 3 people will survive and has learned from 100 years of saving lives that silence won’t finish the fight — only action will. Now is the time to sign up for the Mat-Su Relay For Life from 6 p.m. to noon, June 14-15 at the Tanaina Elementary School track. Sign up online at MatSuRelay.org, or call Laurie at 315-6759.