Play Your "Hope Card":
Celebrate Survivors' Day June 3

Survivors' Day speaker Lori Hope encourages other survivors, caregivers and support teams to discuss their challenges and hopes when dealing with cancer.


Register for the event by visiting our Survivors' Day 2012 web page

Hope, an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, former newspaper editor and author of the book Help Me Live: 20 Things Cancer Survivors Want You to Know, will be the keynote speaker at this year's University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center Survivors' Day celebration, scheduled for June 3.

Her presentation will emphasize the importance of keeping hope alive when living with cancer.

"I want event-goers to take away a sense of hope and renewal, strength and good humor," Hope says. "I want them to feel more forgiving of people and circumstances that may temporarily dash their hope, and I want them to feel comfortable with the tools I share with them that will help them keep hope alive."

U-M's Survivors' Day Celebration is an annual event that coincides with National Cancer Survivors' Day and celebrates the lives of cancer survivors, as well as their caretakers and health care providers. This year's event -- which is marking its 18th anniversary at U-M -- will take place from 1.3:30 p.m. at the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College.

Celebrating the lives of those affected by cancer and promoting conversation among survivors, their families and friends, the event will feature exhibit tables with information and resources from various cancer-related groups and service providers. Entertainment, light refreshments and door prizes are also part of the program.

Hope, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002, says she was surprised by how emotionally fragile the disease made her. However, she realized that talking about the disease with others made dealing with the diagnosis easier.

"Most important is for all of us to admit and talk about the fact that having cancer is uncomfortable," she says. "Just by addressing it, we defuse the tension and make it easier for love to flow."

Sandy Reoma, one of the event's planning committee members and a lung cancer survivor, says she looks forward to the celebratory and positive nature of the event.

"To go to the event and see the hundreds of people who have survived this disease, it's a very uplifting experience," she says. "I've attended every year since my diagnosis, and the helpful and supportive atmosphere makes it such a great event."

For Hope, the best part of events like this is the people. Seeing how cancer can bring out the best in a person never gets old, she says.

"I absolutely love meeting survivors, patients, caregivers and care providers," she says. "To know that some good has come of this awful disease heartens and encourages me."

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