What Will It Take To Abolish Cancer?

The old saying is that you can’t see the forest for the trees. That analogy can be used when describing the battle to end cancer. Every day a new story emerges from our Twitter feed of someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer. These personal stories continue to reinforce the immediacy of finding better detection practices, treatment options, and a cure. We continue to be amazed at the number of cancer charities, organizations, fundraisers, and simple grassroots neighborhood movements that are occurring across the globe to battle this dreadful disease.

This brings us to the “forest and trees” analogy. Without a doubt, there are more and more people, organizations, charities, and the like, fighting to raise money and awareness to tackle cancer. The question, however, that we have to ask ourselves is,

“Are we working in isolation, or are we benefiting from a collaborative effort to abolish cancer?”

Unfortunately, it seems that many of the great things we are doing in the fight are in the “trees” and in isolation from one another. We need to take a step back to see what we can do collaboratively to make a larger impact (in the forest). We are not naive to the understanding that some of the fundraising goals by cancer groups overlap the “consumer base” of each other’s efforts. Organizations need to raise money for both their mission and their organization. The last several years have seen declining dollars in donations for many charities and many groups have become more aggressive to get their piece of the pie.

Our @abolishcancer movement is not designed to step on toes or cut into fundraising or funding streams. Our purpose is to unite all in the fight. Fighting cancer boils down to funding and awareness. Uniting a global community to raise awareness will have major implications in the war on cancer and will actually lead to more funding in the long run.

The following question needs to be asked…. “Are organizations comfortable in being a part of the TEAM that abolishes cancer, or is it more important to get the credit for ending cancer?” We don’t need an answer, we simply ask all those enlisted in the fight to take a moment to reflect on the ultimate goal. Our movement is gaining momentum but can only fully be realized if we have all on board.

Let’s be clear….one day we WILL abolish cancer and you are ALL doing amazing things to work towards this goal. It won’t be easy, it won’t be cheap, and it won’t be overnight. As Aristotle once said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” We hope to see you on the team.

“Power of the People, To Unite, To @abolishcancer”