Dear Editor: Whether you’ve been personally affected by cancer or have friends, family, or coworkers who have faced the disease, the truth is, we all have a reason to hope for a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

I hope you’ll take a minute to make a resolution in 2011 to fight against cancer. This is a perfect time to give hope to those battling this disease.

Your gift will help your American Cancer Society continue to save lives and fight for every life threatened by every cancer in every community.

I know you care about creating a world with less cancer. As 2010 ended and 2011 begins, I’d like to share some of the accomplishments our supporters have helped make possible:

This year, more than one million people called us for trusted cancer information on our 24-hour toll-free number at (800) 227-2345, and nearly 20 million people turned to us at www.cancer.org.

In 2010, we saved more than 55,000 cancer patients and their caregivers more than $20 million in lodging expenses by providing them a free place to stay when needing treatment far from home.

We continue to fund research that will help us better prevent, detect, and treat cancer. Our investment in early research over the years has led to the development of drugs that can attack cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, which means fewer side effects for patients. These drugs include Tarceva, Erbitux and Vectibix, which are used to treat lung cancer, head and neck cancer, and colorectal cancer.

Our more than 3 million volunteers strengthened our worldwide movement to save lives by supporting events such as Relay For Life® and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer®, participating in DetermiNation® endurance races, and urging legislators to pass laws to defeat cancer.

With your help, think what we could accomplish in the coming year. Give hope this season — and together, we’ll save lives and create a world where cancer never steals another year from anyone’s life.

If you would like to join our efforts, you can register as a survivor, purchase a luminaria, start a team or make a donation to your local Relay For Life event by visiting the Newton County Relay For Life website. www.relayforlife.org/newtonga.

Christy Lyons

Chair, Relay For Life of Newton County