American Cancer Society Celebrates 100 Years of
Saving Lives & Creating More Birthdays
As the official sponsor of birthdays, the American Cancer Society knows how important each and every birthday can be. We’re leading the way to transform cancer from deadly to treatable and from treatable to preventable. The progress we’ve helped make in the past 100 years is remarkable. We believe we’ve done more than any other cancer-fighting organization on the planet.
Today, May 22, 2013, we celebrate our 100th birthday – 100 years of saving lives and creating more birthdays. We believe this milestone is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate our lifesaving progress, raise additional funds to finish the fight, and let everyone know that cancer’s time is up.
One-hundred years ago, the word “cancer” was not spoken, and we lost almost all patients to the disease. We now know that cancer thrives on silence and complacency. Progress comes when we speak out, when we make noise. Our 100th birthday is not a time to rest; it’s a time to get loud by taking more action. It’s a time to embark on our most ambitious crusade yet. We are determined to make this cancer’s last century.
During the past 100 years, we’ve witnessed that cancer hates noise, commotion, and action. Progress comes when we speak out – when we proclaim victories and take action. So we want to be loud. We want to break through the clutter. Our 100th birthday campaign will announce our most aggressive and loudest assault on cancer yet. We need to link arms and make some noise. Silence won’t finish the fight. Only action will.
One-hundred years ago, we bravely started the fight of a lifetime. Now it’s time to boldly join together to finish the fight.
- We’re determined to make this cancer’s last century and finish the fight – not just in America but for people everywhere.
- We want to change the statistics from 2 out of 3 people surviving cancer for at least 5 years today in the US to 3 out of 3 surviving.
- We’ve never been more ready to put the American Cancer Society out of business.
- Silence won’t finish this fight – only action will. Our 100th birthday is an opportunity to be as loud and active as possible in the battle to end cancer.
- As the Official Sponsor Of Birthdays®, we know the importance of every birthday
Points of Pride throughout Our 100-Year History
After 100 years of saving lives and creating more birthdays, we’ve led the way in working tirelessly to transform cancer from deadly to treatable and from treatable to preventable.
- Today, 2 out of 3 people diagnosed with cancer in the US are surviving (for at least five years). In fact, every day more than 400 people celebrate birthdays that would have otherwise been lost to the disease.
- We’ve contributed to a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates in the US since the early 1990s. That means we’ve helped save nearly 1.2 million lives during that time.
- We’ve played a role in nearly every cancer research breakthrough in recent history.
- Each year, we help cancer patients everywhere get the help they need when they need it. For example, last year alone we assisted nearly 1 million people who called us for help, providing free services like a place to stay while traveling for treatment, rides to treatment, emotional support, and much more.
- Our work has helped lead to a 50 percent drop in smoking since the 1960s, which has contributed to an overall drop in lung cancer death rates.
Our value proposition has not changed. The theme of our 100th birthday efforts does not replace our value proposition in our messaging. Our value proposition describes what we do. Our 100th birthday gives us an opportunity to amplify that work and raise money to fuel our efforts. The American Cancer Society is still the official sponsor of birthdays, with a mission to finish the fight against cancer. After 100 years of saving lives, we are more committed than ever to making this cancer’s last century and putting ourselves out of business. We will finish this fight – with the help of our millions of supporters – by helping people stay well and get well, by finding cures, and by fighting back.
Here are four ways we continue to save lives:
Helping People Stay Well
- The key to celebrating more birthdays is to stay well.
- We save lives by helping people everywhere take steps to prevent cancer or find it early, when it’s most treatable.
- Whether it’s helping you quit smoking, providing information on what cancer screening tests are right for you, or through simple tips to live a healthier lifestyle, we are working to finish the fight by turning what we know about cancer into what we do about it.
Helping People Get Well
- Whether it’s the middle of the day or the middle of the night, we’re in your corner around the clock to guide you through every step of your cancer experience.
- The American Cancer Society helps people get well by providing reliable information to help make decisions or free services like transportation to and from cancer treatment or a free place to stay while receiving treatment away from home.
Finding Cures
- We have a long history of saving lives by helping find cancer’s causes and cures.
- Whether it’s discovering medications that help people live longer and better than ever after a cancer experience, or pioneering and promoting the most promising cancer prevention or screening tests, we’ve been involved in nearly every major cancer research breakthrough in recent history.
- As the largest private, not-for-profit funder of cancer research in the US, we support the best ideas of the brightest cancer researchers, who with each discovery are getting us closer to a world with more birthdays. Funding lifesaving research is one of the ways we’ll help finish the fight.
Fighting Back
- At its core, the American Cancer Society is a grassroots force of passionate volunteers who tirelessly seek to save lives from cancer. It will take each and every one of us to come together to finish the fight.
- We work with lawmakers everywhere to make this world a healthier place to live and we rally communities around the globe to join our fight.
- Whether it’s passing smoke-free laws, increasing funding for cancer research, improving access to quality health care, or inspiring communities to take up the fight, we fight on all fronts, because the lessons we learn from one battlefield can mean victory on another.
- Through Relay For Life® and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer® events and others in your community, we mobilize the world’s largest movement to end cancer once and for all.
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers saving lives and fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society’s efforts have contributed to a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. since 1991, and a 50 percent drop in smoking rates. Thanks in part to our progress nearly 14 million Americans who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will celebrate more birthdays this year. As we mark our 100th birthday in 2013, we’re determined to finish the fight against cancer. We’re finding cures as the nation’s largest private, not-for-profit investor in cancer research, ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air, and more. For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.