Your American Cancer Society has been saving lives for 100 years and we’ve seen quite a few changes in our time. What was the world like when we started? A century ago, the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn. You could get a car in any color you wanted so long as it was black. There were no PC’s, smartphones, no internet, no vaccine for polio and not much hope for someone diagnosed with cancer. Back then only one in ten lives could be saved from the disease. Cancer was a word spoken of only in whispers. But in 1913, we came together to change all that.

We built an army of volunteers who spread the word in communities across the country. By the 1930s, our efforts were showing real results. More lives were being saved. But we knew more could be done. So, we enlisted the aid of prominent scientists and helped pioneer the field of cancer research. Celebrities added their voices to the cause marshalling awareness and resources for further research. Our work led to major medical advances like chemotherapy and we promoted the Pap test and mammography as important screening tools helping save millions of lives in the process. When lung cancer deaths skyrocketed in the nineteen fifties.

We were there demonstrating irrefutably the link between smoking and cancer. We supported scores a promising young researchers with exciting new ideas. The result groundbreaking advances that change medicine forever. In fact, 46 of our funded researchers have gone on to win Nobel prizes for their work. In 1971, we advocated for the passage the National Cancer Act. It brought federal focus and funding to the fight against cancer. With greater resources and breakthrough treatments saving more lives, we opened a new front in the battle by providing first of their kind support programs and services for patients and survivors. And with the help of our volunteers we created the world’s largest movement to end cancer with unique fundraising programs and events to empower and engage communities worldwide to finish the fight. Today, two out of three people diagnosed with cancer are surviving and we celebrate 400 more birthdays every day that would have otherwise been lost. Yes, the world has changed quite a bit since the started. And no one has done more in the fight against cancer than we have. But, there’s still more to do and we need your help.

So make your voice heard. Help finish the fight at cancer.org/fight..