Delivering Hope World Premiere
by Heidi Adams1 Comment
Last night, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Dr. Thomas Farley, Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, hosted LIVESTRONG friends and partners at Gracie Mansion for the world premiere of LIVESTRONG?s new short film, “Delivering Hope: Cancer Care in the Developing World,” produced by Alpheus Media.
The film poignantly captures the personal stories of cancer survivors from Rwanda and Jordan and reveals that, even in areas of varying resources, delivering quality cancer care is possible. This powerful message underscores our work and our purpose here this week at the UN Summit on Non-communicable Diseases. Historically, the dominant perception of cancer control was that treatment regimens were too complex, patients were uncooperative and treatment was a bad choice for resource allocation. We now know that these barriers can be overcome, and that people in even the most remote and challenging settings can receive the care they deserve, with the potential of averting nearly 8 million deaths worldwide each year.
Mayor Bloomberg kicked off the evening?s festivities with a warm welcome, then introduced Lance Armstrong for some brief comments, which included a special nod to Dr. Harold Freeman, in attendance as a LIVESTRONG Board member and Founder of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in NYC.
Lance then turned the podium over to LIVESTRONG?s great friends and partners, Their Royal Highnesses of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Princess Ghida Talal and Princess Dina Mired, who gave powerful testimonials about their personal experiences with cancer, and how it drove them to successfully bring quality cancer care to Jordan.
Also in attendance at the event: Dr. John Seffrin, CEO of American Cancer Society; Matthew Myers, CEO of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids; and Global Task Force members Felicia Knaul, Director of the Harvard Global Health Initiative; Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health; and Dr. Lawrence Shulman, Chief Medical Office of Harvard Medical School.
Visit our Delivering Hope page to watch several short case studies of individual patients from Rwanda, Jordan, and Guadalajara or to read ?Delivering Hope: Cancer Care in the Developing World: A LIVESTRONG Brief,? which includes case studies and recommendations for how to address the urgent cancer needs of developing populations.
