YES! Beat Liver Tumors
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Jim Wetekam, Advocacy & Action
Advocacy is not a technique; it is a way of life for cancer survivors and their families. You become your own advocate from the moment you hear the words from your physician, "You have cancer"
An advocate works to achieve a goal by taking informed action on behalf of her or himself and for others. As an advocate, you have responsibility first to yourself and to your family, but you are also likely to be "contributing" your advocacy to others and to society as a whole.
Many may try to tell you that advocacy is difficult (or even costly). It isn't! The most important things to remember are to be yourself, do your homework, be reasonable and courteous, but also be passionate and persistent in pursuing the things you believe are necessary. You see, advocacy truly is not rocket science; rather it's more like remembering those things we learned in grade school.
The best advocates on cancer issues accomplish enormous things in the public sector that benefit the rest of us; increased funding for detection, research and treatment; insurance coverage for procedures otherwise denied; changes in law; education of the general public; and even the words that can change people's lives by ensuring that they are tested in time for certain cancers.
However, even these extraordinary cancer advocates journeys almost always start first by their needing to advocate for themselves. It's not selfish to be concerned first and foremost with one's own diagnosis and one's own family, and it's not hard to get started as your own best advocate.
Many may try to tell you that advocacy is difficult (or even costly). It isn't! The most important things to remember are to be yourself, do your homework, be reasonable and courteous, but also be passionate and persistent in pursuing the things you believe are necessary. You see, advocacy truly is not rocket science; rather it's more like remembering those things we learned in grade school.
The best advocates on cancer issues accomplish enormous things in the public sector that benefit the rest of us; increased funding for detection, research and treatment; insurance coverage for procedures otherwise denied; changes in law; education of the general public; and even the words that can change people's lives by ensuring that they are tested in time for certain cancers.
However, even these extraordinary cancer advocates journeys almost always start first by their needing to advocate for themselves. It's not selfish to be concerned first and foremost with one's own diagnosis and one's own family, and it's not hard to get started as your own best advocate.
