FRANKLIN, Tenn--On Sunday, June 2, 1996, more than 600 communities throughout the United States will hold celebrations of life as part of the ninth annual National Cancer Survivors Day. The event recognizes the country's more than 8 million cancer survivors (2% of the population) and serves as a platform to call attention to the barriers that prevent many Americans from receiving state-of-the-art cancer treatment.
The event had its beginnings in Kansas City when cancer survivor Richard Bloch (co-founder of the tax service H&R Block) and his wife, Annette, held their first Cancer Survivor Rally, to obtain media coverage that would demonstrate that a diagnosis of cancer is not an automatic death sentence.
Today, the event is presented by the nonprofit National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation, Richard and Annette Bloch, Founding Co-Chairs, and is sponsored nationally by Coping magazine (a consumer magazine for people living with cancer), Glaxo Wellcome, Janssen Pharmaceutica, and SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.
For information about the Survivors Day celebration in local communities, contact local hospitals or call Cindy Phiffer, director of media relations, phone/fax: 615-848-0503.
