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 Please use this link and a minute of your time to join with LIVESTRONG and others to reach out to world leaders gathering soon at the UN to work on plans to better cope with and solve the massive problem of non-communicable diseases. The diseases  are many - they are ALS, diabetes, and cancer, to name but a few.  

Consider cancer.  Massive waves of cancers are sickening and killing our lovers, children parents and friends. 500,000 cancer deaths each year in the US. Every 10 minutes, a person in the US dies from a blood cancer. Then there are the new cancers. In the next 10 years, new US cancer diagnoses  will equal the populations of the cities (not suburbs) of LA, NY and Chicago. (That's 1.6 million per year, per the American Cancer Society). Imagine the reaction in government money and attention if Al Quaeda threatened that it would in the next decade slowly, viciously and painfully kill everyone in those 3 cities.  But, the budget of our National Cancer Institute is stalled at an annual  $ 5 billion, as described here.  Meanwhile, the budget is over 10x greater for "Homeland Security" at over $ 50 billion; it's budget is described here.  

Here’s what the American Society of Oncologists sees ahead on a global scale:

"The Top Global Killers: Cancer and Other NCDs

Each year, an estimated 7.6 million people die from cancer – more than from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. It is estimated that the incidence of cancer will continue to increase during the next decade, from 12.7 million annual cases in 2008 to more than 20 million by 2030, with the majority of new cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Cancer and other NCDs, such as diabetes and heart disease, account for a combined 36 million deaths each year, or an estimated 63 percent of all annual deaths worldwide, according to a recent report from the World Health Organization. These global statistics are staggering and represent what UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called “a public health emergency in slow motion.”"

Dear Kirk, I’m about to leave for New York to take part in the UN Summit on non-communicable diseases. And when I get there, I want to see your face. Join me and more than 150,000 LIVESTRONG supporters in telling world leaders that cancer is a global health crisis, and the time has come to Face Up To It. Add your face to LIVESTRONG’s Face Up To It mosaic by midnight tonight, and you could be included in our bold new video that we’ll be running in Times Square during the UN Summit. In addition to displaying the faces of thousands of our supporters in Times Square, we’re going to confront world leaders with the strength of our movement all over Manhattan. Your face could appear on mobile bicycle billboards circling the UN and in our New York Times ad delivered to Heads of State in their morning paper. From the moment they wake up, our leaders will see the faces of our global movement staring back at them everywhere they turn. Our bold public statement will be impossible to ignore and I want you to be a part of it. Add your face before midnight to be included in powerful public displays in Times Square and around New York: http://FaceUpToIt.LIVESTRONG.org This is a truly historic opportunity to make unprecedented advances in the fight against cancer around the world. I hope I can count on you in New York. LIVESTRONG, Lance Armstrong P.S. If you’re on Facebook, you can use our simple app to add your face here.