Be an Advocate

Tell Congress It’s Personal

We’ve made it easy for you to tell your story and put a face to lung cancer through our lung cancer advocacy toolkit. This includes helpful tips and tools, including information about our advocacy priorities, social media graphics and tips, prewritten messages, a glossary of common terms and more.

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How to Be an Advocate

To be a lung cancer advocate means that you’re raising awareness about the disease and asking for federal funding for research and treatment, or urging elected officials to support a particular policy. There are lots of ways to be an advocate—in person meetings with your elected officials, on social media, via a letter to Congress or to your newspaper editor, or even a trip to Capitol Hill.

5 Steps for In-Person Meetings—It’s much easier than you think.

Online Advocacy Toolkit— Share your story year-round without leaving home with our online advocacy toolkit.

Letter to the Editor—Personalize our sample letter to share your story with your community.

Quick Facts about Lung Cancer—See a snapshot and get links to short, visual fact sheets.

Common Legislative and Advocacy Terms—A short glossary to help decipher some frequently used language you may hear as an advocate.

“It’s important to be an advocate. I feel like I am able to change mindsets, raise awareness and raise research funding.”
-Patty Watkins, Georgia

Share Your Story

Your lung cancer story is powerful.

Sharing your story can be an effective way to educate elected officials and other important audiences about the lung cancer journey for patients, caregivers, and family members.

Here are some tips for telling an impactful story:

  • Keep it short. Speak about the milestones, such as when you were diagnosed, stage, treatment, and where you are now.
  • Be personal: Connect your lung cancer journey to your bigger story. Personal details make your story more relatable and paint a picture for your audience. For example, what was going on in your life when you were diagnosed? What are you looking forward to?
  • Share advice: Offer a sentence or two about what you have learned on your journey. What advice would you offer someone newly diagnosed with the disease?
  • Include a photo: Images can help people visualize a story and thus bringing about more empathy and compassion. Include a photo of you—alone, with family or friends, with a beloved pet.
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