A drum corps performance and a parade of flags greeted cheering cancer advocates gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC, Wednesday morning. The crowd was on hand for the opening of Celebration on the Hill, an enormous Relay For Life rally aimed at giving federal legislators one simple but urgent message: Make funding cancer research and programs a top priority.

Organized by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), a sister organization of the American Cancer Society (ACS), the event has drawn thousands of passionate survivors, caregivers, volunteers, and researchers to the city for a 2-day celebration of progress against the disease and acknowledgment of the work still to be done.

In addition to walking the Relay track around the Capitol Reflecting Pool, specially trained volunteer "Ambassadors" from every Congressional district will meet with their representatives to urge their support of 3 key goals:

• greater funding for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), particularly the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• greater funding for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which provides low-cost mammograms, Pap tests, and treatment to women who cannot afford these lifesaving services
• support of the Congressional Cancer Promise, a pledge by lawmakers to support measures for cancer prevention, early detection, research, and access to care.

"Each person on the National Mall today has a deep personal commitment to do whatever it takes to ensure that cancer is defeated in our lifetime," the national chair of the ACS board, Sally West Brooks, told the cheering crowd. "Shouldn't members of Congress share that same commitment?"

It was a sentiment echoed by many other luminaries in the run-up to the Relay. On Tuesday night, hundreds of Celebration participants listened to words of encouragement from national politicians, sports figures, journalists, and celebrities at fundraising rallies held in the Washington Convention Center.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who has lost several family members to cancer, told the boisterous crowd that lawmakers should be committed to funding research that prevent such loss, and should be held accountable if they're not.

"When someone tells you there isn't money, say research for life is a lot more important than building bridges to nowhere," Gingrich said in reference to a recent bit of controversial Congressional pork-barrel spending.

Newsman Sam Donaldson, a melanoma survivor, counseled attendees on how to deal with representatives who balk at signing the Congressional Cancer Promise. He quoted former President Ronald Reagan, who said it's not as important to make true believers out of elected officials as it is to get them to do what you want.

"If you can't make them see the light," the Gipper said, "make them feel the heat."

Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill) got choked up when describing his mother's losing battle with ovarian cancer. She died within 6 months of diagnosis, at age 53, never having the chance to see her son elected to public office and never knowing her grandchildren. The experience made Obama an impassioned advocate for early detection efforts and a staunch supporter of cancer research.

"These are dollars that will lead to better treatments and cures in the future," he said.

And Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said Ambassadors and other advocates need to demand appropriate funding for cancer programs. Thirty-five years ago, President Richard Nixon asked Americans to declare, and win, a war on cancer, Harkin reminded his audience. That war has yet to be won, he said, yet funding for it has been cut by Congress in recent years.

"This is not the time to 'cut and run' from the war on cancer," said Harkin, who has lost 4 siblings to the disease. "Do not take 'no' for an answer."

Those taking part in the event expect to make an impact.

"We are each only one voice, but if we put them together we are thousands of voices," said Emily Barton, an Ambassador from Texas who took part in the first Celebration on the Hill in 2002.

She became committed to fighting cancer as a young girl, after losing her only aunt to ovarian cancer. After 47 years volunteering with ACS, she hopes to see the day when cancer becomes like polio – a once fearsome disease virtually eradicated.

"It's my passion and I will fight the fight as long as God will let me," she said.