Cancer is a disease that affects the whole person, the whole family, the whole of our society. Our elected leaders should be addressing the issue by approaching the whole disease.

As a mobilized grassroots force, 3,000 volunteer "Relay Community Ambassadors" have been selected by their local American Cancer Society (ACS) units across the country. Their top mission is to urge Congress to make cancer a national priority.

On Sept. 19, the ambassadors will travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in the first-ever Relay For Life Celebration on the Hill. The ambassadors will represent each of the nation's 435 congressional districts.

During this event, ACS ambassadors will meet with members of Congress from their respective districts. They will converge on the National Mall at the Capitol Reflecting Pool for a unique Relay For Life celebration.

On exhibit will be the more than 100,000 signatures gathered from the national tour of the ACS Celebration Bus. Many of these include heartfelt messages for loved ones fighting cancer.

Nearly 8,000 luminaries will be lit in honor of cancer survivors and in memoriam. Volunteers, cancer survivors, and congressional leaders — about 6,000 people — are expected to attend.

The ACS ambassadors have made an 18-month commitment. Their extensive advocacy training has been used in Relay For Life activities, as well as for ACS legislative priorities. As volunteer spokespersons, they will serve as key contacts for federal and local lawmakers.

The ambassadors represent the nearly half million cancer survivors and 2.25 million additional people who will participate in the ACS Relay For Life this year.

They range in age, ethnicity, religion, political party, geography, and socio-economic background — the broad spectrum of American society.

Their common ground is commitment to the mission of the American Cancer Society: to eliminate cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering through research, education, advocacy, and service.

Four such volunteers are Phylecia Wilson, Molly and Steve Nuhn, and Paul Larrat.

Phylecia Wilson, from the Atlanta area, has been an active ACS volunteer for 25 years, and will serve as a national spokesperson at the Celebration on the Hill.

Last year she was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Once worried that she might not live to see her first grandchild born or grow up, Wilson now considers herself, a "survivor of the future."

Luckily, she was put into a clinical trial. The trial was testing a new drug that targets cancer cells at their molecular level. The drug is called Gleevec.

Gleevec was developed by Brian J. Druker, MD, a scientist at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. Early in his career, Druker was given an ACS grant to advance his research. This year he received the ACS Medal of Honor for his discovery that has revolutionized the way cancer is treated.

Since Gleevec only targets cancer cells, Wilson has experienced very few side effects.

"I feel terrific," she said. "I will teach my grandson Taylor the value of reading and giving back to his community. I plan to see him graduate from college and to dance at his wedding." Taylor is now 17 months old.

Wilson's concern is larger than for herself, having supported the ACS mission for 25 years. "Clearly medical breakthroughs like Gleevec will help get us there," she said. "But none of this can happen without the support of our government."

"Without clinical trials, 90% of childhood cancers would not be curable," Wilson said. "Without clinical trials, new or improved treatments would languish in the laboratory, never reaching the patients who need them.

"Cancer is a disease that affects the whole person, the whole family, the whole of our society," she said. "Our elected leaders should be addressing the issue by approaching the whole disease."

More than 1.2 million new cancer cases (excluding skin cancers) are expected to be diagnosed and 555,500 cancer deaths to occur this year, according to ACS.

On the week before his first birthday, Spencer Nuhn was taken to the doctor in Kansas City. What his parents Molly and Steve thought was an ear infection turned out to be neuroblastoma.

The cancer had affected his kidney, three lymph nodes, and his adrenal gland. Surgery excised a grapefruit-size tumor out of his 14-pound body.

Since his surgery four years ago, Spencer has been cancer free, and has almost reached the end of his critical five-year window, where the risk of recurrence is very low.

Adorned in his purple survivor shirt, Spencer regularly makes his presence known at ACS events in the Midwest, and the whole family will be at the Celebration on the Hill.

"Cancer does not discriminate by age. My son is living proof of that and our legislators need to know about it," Molly said. "I want them to know that without the research and money raised, my son would not be with us today."

Larrat is a five-year prostate cancer survivor and an active ACS volunteer in Rhode Island. He has served as a volunteer speaker for the ACS Man to Man peer support group for men with prostate cancer.

Larrat was diagnosed at the young age of 37. After a colleague near his age died suddenly, he went to his doctor for a checkup. During a digital rectal exam, the doctor told him there was something suspicious and sent him on to a specialist. After his diagnosis, information from ACS helped him to better discuss options with his doctor and to make treatment decisions.

Regarding tobacco-related issues, Larrat has offered testimony before the Rhode Island General Assembly. He has worked to raise the cigarette excise tax and to make Rhode Island a smoke-free state for public dining. At the University of Rhode Island, he is a professor in the college of pharmacy. One of his projects at the university involves getting pharmacies to not sell tobacco products.

Larrat has always had a love for the outdoors and since his cancer diagnosis, enjoys mountain climbing. He has climbed Mt. Rainer in Washington and Mt. Whitney in California. Larrat will also be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, east Africa, at the end of September.

He takes his mountain climbing experience when he speaks to Man to Man members. "I stress perseverance," he said. "With prostate cancer, it's usually a long disease process. You have to keep at it and not get discouraged."

Like the other ambassadors, Larrat is proof that an individual can make a difference. "No matter whether it's writing a letter, getting involved can really help make changes," said Larrat.

In Washington, D.C., he will be meeting with his Rhode Island legislators. At the Celebration on the Hill, said Larrat, "They will see firsthand all the support from around the country; that the issues we have are the same as those in Texas and other states. They need to see that there are people behind these issues that we are talking about."