National Cancer Survivor Day is an annual, worldwide Celebration of life that is held in hundreds if communities throughout the US and Canada and other participating countries. Participants unite in a symbolic event to show the world that life after a cancer diagnosis can be meaningful and productive.
In most areas, National Cancer Survivors Day is traditionally observed on the first Sunday in June, although this not always possible due scheduling conflicts and time differences.
The non-profit National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation supports hundreds of hospitals, support groups and other cancer-related organizations that host National Cancer Survivors Day events in their communities by providing free guidance, education and networking.
Who is a Cancer survivor? A survivor is anyone living with a history of cancer from the moment of diagnosis through the remainder of life. National Cancer Survivors Day affords your community an opportunity to demonstrate that it has an active, productive cancer survivor population.
Nearly 12 Million US Citizens have Cancer
Nearly 12 million US citizens have cancer. This is four times as many as 40 years ago. In 2007 cancer survivors numbered 11.7 million, up from 9.8 million in 2001 and 3 million in 1971.
“It’s good news that so many are surviving cancer and leading long and productive, healthy lives,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a statement. “Preventing cancer and detecting it early remains critically important as many cancers can be prevented or detected early enough to be effectively treated.”
CDC researchers estimate that of the 11.7 million cancer survivors still alive on January 1, 2007, 7 million were age 65 or older, Nearly 13 percent of the 307 million people living in the US in 2009 were over age 65.
“Research Has allowed us to scratch the surface of understanding the unique risks, issues and concerns of this population,” said Julia Rowland, director of the office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute.