Press kit | Facts at a Glance

Non-profit organization: EyesOnThePrize.org

Founded in 2000 by 10 cancer survivors – living throughout North America – to create an innovative Internet community of sharing and support for women diagnosed with reproductive cancers.

Women's reproductive cancers

• cervical
• endometrial/uterine
• ovarian
• vulvar
• vaginal
• tubal
• gestational

Background

Motivated by their own experience with gynecologic cancer, 10 women from across North America – who met on an Internet support list – recently launched a one-stop-shop web resource and community for women affected by reproductive cancers worldwide.

According to the non-profit organization's founders, newly diagnosed cancer patients want information, but even more than that, they want to hear the voices of other women's experiences – and that is what makes EyesOnThePrize.org unique among other cancer sites. "By uniting survivors of all gynecologic cancers, we create a stronger community," asserts EyesOnThePrize.org President Susan Donley of Oakmont, Pa. "Women want to hear from others who have run this race before them. That's what we couldn't find on the web or in our home towns."

Origin of organization's name

Representing women with cervical, endometrial/uterine, ovarian, vulvar, vaginal, tubal and gestational cancers, EyesOnThePrize.org was named in honor of Beverly, a fellow cancer sister who lost her life in 1999. She closed her email messages with the expression "keeping my eyes on the prize" as a potent reminder that hope is so important and the "all of us are in the race together."

Services

Setting EyesOnThePrize.org apart from other cancer support sites and associations is its unique combination of emotional support and personal contact in addition to medical information and resources.

• "Our Stories" – poignant chronicles of survivors’ personal races with cancer
• FAQ section – frequently asked questions (personal experience that is a wonderful augmentation to medical information)
• Discussion list – private, safe place for women to share their experience and express their fears (better than a bulletin board; safer than a chat room)
• Links – only the best medically accurate sites
• Advocacy/Tools – waiting room posters, pocket cards, addresses of media, promotion of upcoming events
• All gyn cancers – information and support for all gynecologic cancers, including such relatively rare cancers as vulvar, uterine sarcomas and GTD
• NEW JANUARY 2001– "In Your Community" – searchable database of local gynecologic cancer support groups

National (USA) observances

• January: Cervical Cancer Awareness Month
• September: Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

Funding

Incorporated as a non-profit organization in August 2000, EyesOnThePrize.org, a 501 C3 tax-exempt charitable organization in the USA, hopes to raise funds to expand its support and advocacy activities. "We see the benefit of fostering partnerships between professional medical organizations and EyesOnThePrize.org as the voice of women who are living with these cancers that hit below the belt. It’s just common sense," states co-founder Cathy Black of Hamilton, Ontario. "We know that by combining our voices, we can make ourselves be heard."

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