Understanding and recognizing the inequities in cancer care around the globe underpins the 2022-24 World Cancer Day theme to Close the Care Gap. The needs are urgent, and the opportunity exists to make progress toward equitable cancer care for all. We must listen to the perspectives of people living with cancer and let those lived experiences guide our thoughts and actions. This is why for World Cancer Day 2022, our global team members and patients shared their ideas on how to #AmplifyOurVoice, using a megaphone to radiate their message to the world.
World Cancer Day, celebrated on February 4, is a global initiative that aims to raise awareness about cancer education, care, and prevention. The initiative is led by our friends at the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), a member-based organization whose mission is to reduce the global cancer burden and promote equity.
Our patient community provided inspiring responses to the question what do you want to say to the world about yourself?
How can we amplify the voices of our patients? Our team members have some amazing ideas:
Collective progress occurs when we start at the individual level – each of us can make a difference by amplifying our voice to bring visibility to the barriers that exist in accessing cancer care. There is always something new we can do to advocate for our patients and take action for increased access to cancer care globally:
Andrielle Yost is a Senior Program Manager at The Max Foundation. In addition to advancing global health equity, Andie is passionate about gardening, hiking, and her quest to watch all documentaries that exist.
When Ka came to Thailand for access to treatment, she had the chance to join the MaxSmiles patient group meetings. Ka started to dream about having her own meetings and soon found support from Dr. Mary Cluck, an Australian volunteer working with Cambodian CML patients. Ka stepped up and called the patients one-by-one to invite them to their first patient meeting.
March 9th marks a somber anniversary; the day Max lost his 3 year battle with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). For those of us who love Max, who either knew him then or who know and love him now, this will always be a day of sorrow. The words that come to mind are words such as ugly, unfair, impossible, and the feeling is one of emptiness; a whole in one’s heart. Max was a real person, a beautiful young child, whose encounter with cancer was nothing but a tragic episode.
Un Paso Max, meaning “Un Paso Mas” (One More Step) is a fitting name for a group led by cancer survivors who are willing to take an extra step to help others. Un Paso Max is the name of the CML and GIST patient association in the Dominican Republic. One can trace the origins of this group to a small meeting in 2008. It only took a bit of encouragement and support on the part of The Max Foundation to unlock the passion of a handful of courageous survivors in Santo Domingo, and the seed of a patient association was planted.
