Global Heroes of Hope are cancer survivors and caregivers who take what they have lived through and use it to help others — in their own communities and around the world. They are volunteers — with jobs, families, and treatment schedules of their own — seeking to make a difference.
Heroes record their work throughout the year. These are their accomplishments, in their own words.
This is what Global Heroes of Hope do.
What Heroes actually do
They lead
Heroes lead Relay For Life events, run planning committees, and captain teams. Many hold several of these roles at the same time, year after year.
They mentor the next leaders
Heroes coach brand-new Relay committees through their first event, present at national summits, and answer the phone when a new event chair needs help.
They start what didn't exist
New Relay events in towns that never had one. First-ever Luminaria ceremonies. New survivor support groups and new youth committees.
They sit with patients
Heroes take turns at hospital oncology clinics so that nobody faces a first day of chemotherapy alone. Sometimes the most important thing is simply being someone who understands.
They walk beside people
Heroes lead survivor and caregiver support groups, are paired with people who have just been diagnosed, and stay in touch long after treatment ends.
They are there on the hardest days
Heroes organize memorial services, lead bereavement groups, and stand beside families at funerals — because the work does not stop when the news is bad.
They open doors
Churches, mosques, women's groups, community clubs, employers, medical schools. A survivor is welcomed in places an organization can rarely reach on its own.
They reach young people
Heroes speak in primary schools, high schools, and universities — and students leave wanting to raise money, join a committee, or Relay for the first time.
They tell their story in the media
Heroes are interviewed on national television, community radio, podcasts, and in newspapers — telling their own story so that someone listening goes for a screening.
They speak where decisions are made
Heroes bring the concerns of patients to health ministries, parliamentary committees, and national budget discussions — and things change because of it.
They meet very practical needs
Blankets and warm hats for cancer wards. Breast prostheses and wigs collected from friends overseas. Meals, transport, food parcels, and holiday gifts for families having a hard year.
They make beautiful things
Songs, poems, artwork, concerts, and photographs — Heroes turn their own journeys into something others can keep.
A few moments from the year
A Hero helped a town hold its very first Relay For Life — then went back the following year to help the next town do the same.
A Hero helped lead a university Relay that raised more than $100,000 — the highest total in the university's history — and did the same in each of the next two years.
A Hero spoke to their country's health leaders about the cost of treatment. National funding for cancer medicines and equipment followed.
A Hero helped train a cancer society in another country to run its very first Relay For Life.
One Hero was invited to speak at fourteen different high schools in a single season. The year before, ten schools had contacted them without being asked.
A Hero took a poem they had written for their Relay years earlier, turned it into a song about hope, and won a national music award for it.
A Hero noticed a friend struggling badly after treatment ended, helped them into professional care, and walked them to a support group close to home.
One Hero has served on the same Relay event leadership team for twenty-five years, and continues today.
Heroes of Hope take what they have lived through and turn it into actions that change not only the lives of other individuals, but entire communities — one day and one step at a time.
Global Heroes of Hope