It’s November, and that means LUNG CANCER AWARENESS MONTH is here! The registered Twitter hashtag for Lung Cancer Awareness Month this year (and hopefully all future years) is #LCAM.

If you want to get involved in spreading awareness and generating support for lung cancer patients, caregivers, and research, you’re in luck.  Our #LCSM Chat on November 3, 2016, at 8 pm ET (5 pm Pacific) will discuss how YOU can get involved in LCAM.

In addition to the LCAM materials and resources available from lung cancer advocacy organizations (see list at the end of this post), we will be highlighting a new collaborative #LCAM effort. The website lcam.org was created specifically for LCAM by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), in partnership with several lung cancer advocacy groups. The logo at the top of this blog post is the LCAM logo created for LCAM.org. The site is unbranded and aims to offer hope to those affected by lung cancer. This year the site focuses on patient stories with supporting factoids, a calendar of LCAM events (starting with the Nov 1 LCAM Press Conference in Washington, DC), and options for purchasing LCAM logo merchandise (the proceeds of which support lung cancer research).

Patients and caregivers can contribute to LCAM in a number of ways:

• Watch Facebook, Twitter and media for posts about lung cancer, and share them on social media
• Share your lung cancer story on lcam.org and other sites (see below)
• Attend lung cancer events
• Look for ways to expand your advocacy
• Donate to lung cancer organizations that do work important to you

Our stories have a greater impact when they have a clear message. The majority of this chat will focus on hints for telling your lung cancer story in a way that attracts readers and media attention. To guide our exploration of lung cancer storytelling, we will have two special guests:

• Mark Story (@markstory_) is a strategic communications executive and cancer communicator with more than 20 years of experience. His mother died of lung cancer.  While his day job is at the NCI, he is in no way representing the organization nor its views in this chat.
• Jennifer Stauss (@jenniferjstauss) has more than 18 years in public relations, crisis communications and social media strategy. She used these skills to highlight her Mom’s journey through lung cancer through their joint politically incorrect social media campaign called “WTF? (Where’s the Funding) for Lung Cancer.”

Our guests will suggest ways to (1) tell your story to generate the greatest impact, (2) pitch your story to local and national media outlets, and (3) leverage your story in different types of advocacy.

Be aware that sharing your story means going public with health information (good overview in this thoughtful post by Marie Ennis O’Connor, AKA @JBBC). You really do need to think about privacy implications before writing.

Our moderator @JFreemanDaily (Janet Freeman-Daily) will guide our conversation using the following questions:

• T1: What materials and resources are available for #LCAM advocates?
• T2: What are some tips for sharing my #lungcancer story effectively for #LCAM?
• T3: How can I get media interested in #lungcancer stories?
• T4: How might I share my #lungcancer story in other forms of #lungcancer advocacy?

Please remember to include #LCSM in ALL your tweets so the other chat participants can see them. You can read a primer on participating in the chat here. A link to the chat transcript and a Storify summary will be available within a few days on our Schedules and Transcripts page.

We look forward to chatting with you about #LCAM storytelling on November 3!

RESOURCES FOR LUNG CANCER AWARENESS MONTH 2016 (#LCAM)

You can find resources and information at lung cancer advocacy organization websites in this list of Lung Cancer Action Network (LungCAN) members.

The websites listed below have specific Lung Cancer Awareness Month pages.

Organization: International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer
LCAM resource: share your story on lcam.org (new collaborative LCAM website)
hashtag: #LCAM and #LCSM

Organization: American Lung Association (ALA)
LCAM resource: share your story at www.LUNGFORCE.org
hashtag: #LungForce

Organization: The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation
LCAM resource: National Lung Cancer Awareness Month
hashtag: #beatlungcancer

Organization: Free to Breathe
LCAM resource: post a video
hashtag #fliptobreathe

Organization: Lung Cancer Alliance
LCAM resource: Five easy ways to make a difference
hashtag: #ShareHope

Organization: Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA)
LCAM resource: “Little Things” videos
hashtag: #littlethingsLCFA

Organization: Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina
LCAM resource: attend an event
hashtag: #LCAM

Organization: Lung Cancer Social Media
LCAM resource: tweetable LC facts
hashtag: #LCAM and #LCSM

Organization: LUNGevity Foundation
LCAM resource: share your story on social media
hashtag: #changelc