Leadership and Vision to End Breast Cancer, Turning Impossible Into Possible

The parties have wrapped up their conventions and the Presidential candidates are in full swing on the campaign trail. During the conventions, the candidates are given a primetime platform to present big ideas. That is, after all, what Presidential candidates are supposed to do -- think big for America.

We want and expect that every person who holds the office of President of the United States will combine leadership with vision. That she or he will be someone who knows the limitations of what is and imagines what can be -- and then makes it happen. We see what can occur when that type of leadership exists in other fields. As an example, technology has advanced to such a degree that "groundbreaking," "cutting-edge," "bold" and "disruptive innovation" are the standards for those willing to take the risk to "change the game."

Those are labels that are thrown around quite often and are not always warranted. How do we know when they are appropriately applied? They certainly can be defined in terms of the result, for example how an innovation disrupted the status quo and fundamentally changed the way we treat a disease. That, of course, is in hindsight. We need to recognize and embrace what is game-changing and disruptive early in the process. That takes courage and a willingness to risk failure.

In the premier issue of Disruptive Science and Technology, May 14, 2012, Alan J. Russell, PhD, Editor-in-Chief and Highmark Distinguished Career Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, discusses disruptive innovation in the context of how it "will eventually benefit society" and "can harness radical new ideas to change the course of history." It is time we disrupt the business and system of breast cancer. It's time we disrupt the status quo. We must create an innovative environment for breast cancer research that will lead us toward the eradication of the disease.

That's the type of courageous, limitless vision we need from our leaders to achieve the level of innovation that builds a sustainable and resilient future. It's the type of vision we need to save lives. It is the vision that must be behind Breast Cancer Deadline 2020®.

Our deadline goal threatens to disrupt the status quo. And we must not shy away from that. Advances in areas such as immunology, the molecular basis of tumor genesis and vaccine technology together with a better understanding of public health approaches have opened up unprecedented opportunities for us to end breast cancer. I've talked about our Artemis Project® and the potential before us as we work cooperatively with breast cancer clinicians, researchers, advocates, policy makers and industry to develop a plan for a safe vaccine to prevent breast cancer. And I've explained how we are applying that approach to other questions in order to implement our plan of action to end breast cancer.

These are exciting times.

When we established the National Breast Cancer Coalition in 1991, we had a vision -- a world without breast cancer. The naysayers said we cannot end a disease. I say we can. I say we will.

When we set a deadline to end breast cancer by January 1, 2020, we knew it would be controversial. We knew some would scoff. We knew we couldn't do it alone. We knew we needed many stakeholders and, most importantly, our leaders in all arenas that play a role in breast cancer to be a part of the deadline.

That's why we want the President to demonstrate leadership and commit to making the end of breast cancer a national priority.

We have been -- and will continue -- asking women and men across this country who want to see an end to breast cancer to sign our Petition to the President. We will collect 290,000 signatures -- representing the number of women and men who will be diagnosed with breast cancer in this country next year. And we will deliver them to the President shortly after Inauguration Day. We are asking him to bring this nation's leadership, intellectual and creative forces to bear on a matter of utmost importance to everyone around the world.

Leadership matters.

In 1961, President Kennedy challenged this country to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, and the Apollo program was born. The seemingly impossible challenge President Kennedy issued became breathtaking reality only 98 months later. It is time to reawaken this impulse to do great things and to honor our heritage by committing to a goal no less ambitious or achievable than the moon landing seemed half a century ago. Let's figure out how to end breast cancer by 2020. Together, we can do it.

 

Follow Fran Visco on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Deadline2020

Comments

[Sherry Goldman]

08:43 PM on 09/11/2012

We will do it! We will end breast cancer by changing the conversation and disrupting the satus quo. I began my journey with breast cancer nearly 20 years ago when I joined Susan Love who vowed to end breast cancer in her lifetime. She introduced me to the National Breast Cancer Coalition shortly thereafter and I found myself in awe of incredibly strong women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and who had a vision to end this disease. I became emersed in my career caring for patients with breast cancer and decided to fight along with them. 7 years later, I , too, was diagnosed. What I realized is that there are no boundaries, no rules and certainly no particular personalities. The truth is, we may never know why one is diagnosed with breast cancer, but what we do know is that it needs to end. Setting a deadline is long overdue . We have been moved by the candidates to make changes and seek the American dream. Part of that dream is to strive for good health and to achieve new roads to honor our heritage and do great things. All those women that I admired and found strength in........many of them are gone. They died of breast cancer while trying to end it. Please sign the petitions and begin the process of making the seemingly impossible a reality. It is time!

[Debbie Robison Laxague]

03:49 PM on 09/11/2012

These ARE exciting times. We have a vast store of knowledge about breast cancer, accumulated over the last few decades at great cost of time, brainwork, and money. It turns out, breast cancer is far more complex than anyone imagined. It turns out that knowing a lot more about cancer has not translated, as we'd hoped, into stopping deaths from breast cancer. It's time to think about new ways to use what we already know, about new ways to collaborate, and about new ways to focus and evaluate research.

NBCC has taken steps to look at two underserved and promising areas of breast cancer -- prevention of primary disease and of metastasis. There are so many other ways to stop cancer than our current focus upon just killing the cancer cell itself. These ways can be more effective and less toxic. I hope that you'll take a minute to check out the details of what NBCC is doing, sign the petition to the president, and become a part of these exciting times.

[MrDootin]

09:27 PM on 09/10/2012

In case anybody is interested, this is prostate cancer awareness month. Thanks for caring.

[ZoeT]

07:48 PM on 09/10/2012

I hate to be the one to clue you in- but, honey, we've already got a way to end cancer. Hundreds of books and articles have been written about it. In fact, hundreds of scientific studies have been made of it and there are plenty of people who have cured their own cancer (called spontaneous remission by docs). But we are a surface society and do not want to go deep into our own psyches to find the emotional and spiritual roots of our lives. The mind and the body work together to create whatever one experiences in life. Getting cancer is tied to personality characteristics, to beliefs, to attitudes and the ability to love yourself, something not given importance in our school systems. Something has to be going on when researchers at a Boston hospital set up a triple-blind experiment wherein free pap smears were offered to women in the community. Each one had to fill out a personality test. No names were used; only numbers. In reviewing the personality tests, doctors predicted which women would return in 5 years with cervical cancer. They were 86% correct! Read Larry Dossey, Deepak Chopra, Louise Hay -- just for starters. THAT'S THE DIRECTION CANCER RESEARCH SHOULD GO. And don't tell me about "environmental factors." There are plenty of people in a similar environment who DON'T get cancer. Among many other things,studies showed that people with a more positive outlook on life got fewer illnesses, including cancer. Wake up America!