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Here is a draft Letter-to-the Editor letter, courtesy the Lung Cancer Alliance, you can copy and paste (and customize as you like) that talks about the state of lung cancer and the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act.
Below are tips of how to submit this letter to your local newspaper.
DRAFT
[Date]
Re: Bringing Lung Cancer… Out of the Shadows
To the Editor:
If asked what cancer is the leading cause of death among men and women today, the likely response from most women would be breast cancer. The likely response from most men would be prostate cancer. Yet the real answer is lung cancer – and it will continue to be the leading cause of cancer death among men and women today, tomorrow and for decades to come.
Why is this extraordinary and devastating fact not known? Because lung cancer is the most stigmatized, misunderstood and ignored cancer of all. While it may be easy for society to blame lung cancer on smoking, the reality today is that 80% of new lung cancer cases inflict people who either have never smoked or have quit smoking – most decades ago. It is taking more lives each year than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers – combined. And lung cancer has a very low 5-year survival rate of only 15%.
Nobody deserves lung cancer, whatever the cause, and we must do more to combat this devastating disease. Success lies in approaching lung cancer comprehensively – just as we do other major illness. Prevention and wellness coupled with early detection and treatment options must be adequately funded and coordinated. Isn’t that how we approach heart disease? Breast cancer? HIV/AIDS? Why should lung cancer be held to a different standard?
Fortunately, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators and congressional representatives have recognized that lung cancer can no longer be ignored and have developed national legislation called the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act. This Act would establish a comprehensive approach that requires federal health agencies to coordinate, provides new resources and tools to health agencies, supports early detection and treatment, and creates programs to combat lung cancer in vulnerable populations including veterans, minorities, the poor and women.
Nobody can breathe easy while the disease of lung cancer continues to strike our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, neighbors and friends. Let us all breathe new life into the effort to fight lung cancer, by contacting our congressional representatives, via this number 877-727-5068 and asking them to become sponsors of the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act of 2011.
Signed,
(Your signature)
Submission Tips:
- Call your local newspaper and ask to speak to the editor who handles “Letter-to-the-Editor” submissions.
- Ask what/if any requirements they have and the email address you should send your letter to.
- Follow up with that editor a few days after submission to ensure he/she received it.
- Ask about your chances of getting it published. If not, ask why! Ask what changes you can make to get it published.
- Personalizing the letter is HUGE, however, if word-count is an issue, you may want to stick to the more generic version.
Any problems? Let me know!!!
Go get ‘em!
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