Keeping Advocacy at the Forefront

AT CURE, we frequently have the opportunity to report on the efforts of advocates: individual patients helping their peers, and organizations large and small dedicated to supporting patients with cancer and bringing them better treatments or cures.

It’s always impressive to share the stories of people who could see a diagnosis of cancer as a defeat, but instead use it as a launching pad to work tirelessly toward making the right things happen. Likewise, the advocacy organizations that so often take their place on our pages and on curetoday.com do vital work that positively changes the lives of many, often despite limited funds and resources.

Feedback from readers tells us that such work is not just a practical help, but also an inspiration. It certainly has been to us, which is why we’ve responded with a growing selection of CURE initiatives designed to give advocates a chance to shine.

In April, our Extraordinary Healer event, which honors special oncology nurses for their vital contributions, will celebrate its 10th anniversary. In 2015, we held our second annual MPN Heroes Awards event — which honors advocates who have made a difference for people with myeloproliferative neoplasms — and our first Heroes event honoring advocates in the glioblastoma community. And this month, we will confer our first-ever Multiple Myeloma Heroes Awards.

In January, we were proud of the success of 15 members of the multiple myeloma community who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as a fundraiser to support awareness campaigns and research into new treatments, with sponsorship from CURE, Takeda Oncology and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. The effort was in keeping with CURE’s mission to both educate and inspire, since it helped to empower advocates who were fueled by a motivation to help others. Together, they raised $250,000 and proved what’s possible with determination and commitment.

In the pages of this special issue, we share news about two of these initiatives that are relevant to the hematology arena: the MPN Heroes Awards and the Kilimanjaro climb.

We hope you enjoy these moving stories. We were certainly glad to be a part of them.

As always, thank you for reading!

MIKE HENNESSY, SRChairman and CEO