Online Portal Launched for Young Adults with Cancer

Online Portal Launched for Young Adults with Cancer
Business Wire via NewsEdge Corporation

Patients/Survivors Under 40 Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers BROOKLYN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2006--For the first time ever, adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer will have access to the best cancer support services via a new one-stop online web portal. Steps For Living, a nonprofit communications, support and advocacy organization has launched I'M TOO YOUNG FOR THIS! (i2y), a public awareness and resource literacy campaign to benefit the oft "forgotten" group of cancer survivors-aged 15 to 39-who are seeking support directed at their unique demographic and lifestyle needs. These services can include survivor spa retreats, online forums and blogs, social networking, camping excursions, fertility education, peer counseling, financial scholarships and more.

"The i2y website ImTooYoungForThis.org is primed to become a premiere online resource for AYAs with cancer by eliminating the stress and hassle of navigating through thousands of search engine results," said Matthew Zachary, founder and executive director of Steps For Living and an 11-year young adult survivor of pediatric brain cancer. "Our goal to make ImTooYoungForThis.org the first place adolescents and young adults with cancer think of to go when in search of credible, targeted support programs, tools and services."

The centerpiece of the i2y awareness campaign is a 21-track namesake benefit CD featuring original songs composed by AYA musician/survivors who belong to a national arts coalition organized by Steps For Living. The i2y online resource guide is printed within the liner notes of the album repositioning the disc as an educational toolkit. Additionally, i2y literature is being distributed nationally to hospitals and cancer clinics to foster AYA resource literacy among oncology healthcare providers such as doctors, nurses, social workers and therapists.

"Too often, adolescents and young adults are not aware of-and therefore do not access-free services that are available to them," said Archie Bleyer, M.D., Chair, Children's Cancer Group (ret.), Mosbacher Chair Emeritus and Professor of Pediatrics, MD Anderson Cancer Center (ret.) and founding member of the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance. "This website is just what the doctor ordered. Now, with the click of a mouse, they can instantly connect with a universe of others just like them." Doug Ulman, Chief Mission Officer for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and a 10-year young adult survivor says, "We are pleased that Steps For Living is dedicated to making a difference in cancer advocacy for this community."
ImTooYoungForThis.org received over 5,000 hits in it's first three weeks. As of this release, 250 benefit CDs have been sold and i2y support literature has been distributed to over 40 cancer treatment centers including Dana Farber, St. Jude and Memorial Sloan Kettering. Steps For Living is presently investigating a cause-marketing relationship with a corporate partner to underwrite the costs for the toolkit's national distribution.

Steps For Living is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit communications, support and advocacy organization whose mission is to increase quality of life for adolescents and young adults with cancer by connecting them with credible cancer survivorship information, human resources and psychosocial support services. We provide communications projects and programs for the adolescent and young adult cancer community that educate and mobilize survivors through resource literacy, consumer empowerment and grassroots music and arts advocacy. For additional information visit http://www.ImTooYoungForThis.org and http://www.StepsForLiving.org.