In two days I will be boarding yet another plane for New York, but this time is different. This time I won't be taking ten meetings a day, running to the FCancer office with every free second, and scarfing down street food when I realize I've only eaten the chocolate from my pillow last night and copious amounts of coffee today. This time, I will be attending the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative.
Can you hear that? It's my heart palpitating as fast as a bad 70's disco beat. I am nervous. I mean what do I say to the "heads of state, Nobel Peace Prize winners, leading global CEOs, major philanthropists and foundation heads, directors of the most effective non-governmental organizations, and prominent members of the media" that I will be rubbing elbows with? The FCancer movement has been growing quickly, but I still can't order an airstrike and I don't have a Nobel Peace Prize.
Photo Courtesy Of The Office Of The Prime Minister
Summit Series kicked it all off, and while at first my nerves ran wild, the experience was amazing and one that catalyzed FCancer into a whole new realm.
This was followed by an invitation to the White House for the Next Generation Leadership Conference. The first thing I asked was if they knew I was Canadian. "Yes." The second was if they knew that the name of my charity was F*ck Cancer. "Yes." "Great, see you Tuesday," I said.
This was followed by an invitation to TED , which I am anxiously awaiting.
Yet none of these have made my heart dance idiotically like the impending CGI . CGI is all about collaboration, with a results driven focus. Every member that attends must make a commitment. My commitment involves activating youth to take responsibility for teaching their parents about early detection of cancer; we're already teaching our parents about everything from Tivo to Wii Fit, so we might as well teach them something that could save their lives. We all know that the best way to learn something is by teaching it to someone else. My hope is that by teaching our parents about their risk factors and the (often seemingly benign and highly embarrassing) earliest warning signs of cancer that we really internalize the information, so that by the time we are in the highest risk demographic, we're looking for cancer instead of just finding it.
While I don't quite know what to expect of the Annual Meeting next week, I do know that I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to publicly commit to something that I am so passionate about. I hope to gain insight, knowledge, and some like minded partners to help me put an end to late stage cancer diagnosis.
Cross everything crossable for me and I'll let you know how it goes!