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October 19, 2006
American Cancer Society
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Featured Nonprofit
In 1913 75,000 people died from cancer in the U.S. alone. It was a disease rarely talked about, clouded by fear and denial (much like AIDS in the 1980s). A group of 15 doctors and business leaders in New York came together to found the American Society for the Control of Cancer in an effort to spread awareness, boost research efforts and support those fighing the disease.
Today cancer kills over half a million people in the U.S. every year and is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. One in four deaths in the U.S. are due to cancer. But today enormous strides are being made. The American Cancer Society has invested $3 billion in research, and funded 39 Nobel Prize winners. The five-year survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1996-2001 is 65%, up from 50% in 1974-1976.
Perhaps the best news in the fight against cancer is that many forms of it are preventable. All cancer caused by cigarette smoking could be prevented, saving 170,000 lives per year. A full-third of cancer deaths are related to poor nutrition, lack of physical activity and obesity, and could be prevented. The more than one million cases of skin cancer that are diagnosed each year could also be prevented. While cancer does shatter so many lives, it also a disease that can be treated, prevented and someday cured, thanks to the efforts of organizations like the American Cancer Society.
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