Idaho Has a Chance to Add More Lights to This Incredible Display

Cancer is one of those things that pretty much all of us have a story about.

Maybe you’re a survivor. Maybe it’s your spouse, your parent, a friend or someone you work with.

For me, it was my mom.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the late 1970s. Thankfully, they caught it early enough that after a double mastectomy, Mom went on to live for nearly another 30 years.

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We’ve learned so much about cancer since then, but we’re certainly not done.

And right now, Idahoans have a pretty simple way to help continue that fight while honoring the people in our lives who’ve been affected by cancer.

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What Is the American Cancer Society Lights of Hope?

I talked with Erica Watkins, Grassroots Manager for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network in Idaho, about Lights of Hope.

Every year, Lights of Hope gives people an opportunity to honor someone who’s survived cancer, someone who’s fighting it or someone we’ve lost.

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Each $10 donation is represented by a lighted bag, and on September 15, more than 70,000 of them are expected to create an incredible display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

More than 700 volunteers will be there, too and every one of those lights represents somebody’s story.

Idaho Is Raising Money for Lights of Hope

Erica says Idaho’s minimum fundraising goal is $3,000, and they’re already getting close, but she’d love to blow that number out of the water and so would I.

The money supports the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, or ACS CAN, which advocates for policies affecting cancer research, prevention, screenings and access to care at the federal, state and local levels.

That’s where these $10 donations can become something much bigger than a light on the National Mall.

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How Can Idahoans Support Lights of Hope?

If you’d like to dedicate a Light of Hope to someone touched by cancer or simply help Idaho surpass its fundraising goal, you can donate through the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

I truly believe there’s going to come a time when cancer doesn’t touch nearly every family the way it does today.

We’re not there yet, but every discovery, every survivor, every improved treatment and every step forward gets us a little closer.

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And this September, more than 70,000 lights will glow in Washington representing the people who remind us why getting there matters so much.

I’d love to see a whole lot of those lights coming from Idaho.