Lilly: Fight for Your Life, No Matter Where You Live

Feb 4, 2015 11:35 AM ET

Fight for Your Life, No Matter Where You Live

Today’s guest blog, on World Cancer Day, comes from Lilly’s senior vice president and president of Lilly Oncology, Sue Mahony, Ph.D.

Imagine you’re a young woman who has just been diagnosed with cancer. Your mind rushes to the impact on your children, your husband. For them, you know you will fight to survive. You will request a second opinion. You will ask friends and co-workers for recommendations for the best oncologist. You will research online to find a premier cancer treatment facility. You will demand the best medicines available.

Now imagine, you live in Kenya. You still worry about your family and desperately want to survive, perhaps increasingly so because your family already faces a daily struggle with poverty. You still want the best care and medicines, but your options are drastically limited. There are only four trained oncologists in all of Kenya, a country with nearly 42 million people.

Read on for more about Lilly Foundation's new $1 million commitment to AMPATH and its impact on AMPATH's Oncology Institute in Kenya.