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By Josh Larsen

This past Monday I had the tremendous opportunity through my involvement with LIVESTRONGÌýas a Senior Leader and advocate on the local, state and national levels to attend One Voice Against Cancer (OVAC), for its 15thÌýannual lobby day in Washington, D.C. With over 100 attendees representing 30 states, OVAC, a broad coalition of 48 cancer-related organizations, works in support of federally funded programs that engage in the fight against cancer and calls on Congress to make funding for cancer research and prevention programs a top priority.

This was my seventh OVAC- I’ve attended each year beginning in 2007, with the exception of 2011, the year my grandma Sharon lost her battle to cancer three days before I was to leave for OVAC. I advocate in memory of her, my wife’s father Cletus and many of my fellow OVAC advocates who are survivors. Advocating is personal because it involves genuinely relating to people and their stories. I was told a group of OVAC advocates visited a nearby D.C. firehouse during our visit and the conversation with firefighters turned to cancer. As it turned out, the firefighters had a fellow comrade who had recently had a cancer fight. The connection was made.