My mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in February of 2001.  From the beginning, she was determined not to let it define her. She would go to her regularly scheduled doctor appointments and get treatment, but beyond that you would never know she was sick.  She never joined a support group. She never met with other survivors or wore a sign that said “survivor” on her back during the local awareness walks we did together. That is why it surprised me that she chose to always wear her teal “Lance Armstrong” bracelet, along with the original yellow one, from the time the wristband was introduced by Live Strong and Nike in 2004. It was her quiet way of joining the community and joining the war against cancer. The words on the teal bracelet:  OverCome. A big O and C to emphasize ovarian cancer.

When I heard that Doug Ulman, the head of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, was going to speak at SXSW Interactive last week in Austin I knew I didn’t want to miss it.  Even though it was a long three miles from the Convention Center—and it was cold and raining hard—I knew I needed to get there, so I caught a free Chevy and was on my way. The title of the panel was lofty and aspirational:  Social Media Cures Cancer and Speaks for Survivors.  It peaked my curiosity both personally and professionally.

Doug, himself a 15-year survivor, began by talking about how cancer is on its way to becoming the number one cause of death in the world with 8 million people losing their battle each year.  It’s a massive problem in both scope and scale, which Doug correlated to the size and scope of social media tools and platforms today. In an attempt to mobilize people and as a fundraising tactic, less than 10 years after the Foundation was created (early spring 2004), Nike came up with the idea to produce yellow wristbands with the words “Live Strong” and sell them for a dollar at the foundation’s website. Nike would produce 5 million bands and contribute another $1 million in cash. No one thought they would sell, even Lance himself.

The wristbands quickly went global and had an incredible impact, helping to mobilize more than 88 million people so far. According to Doug, the yellow wristband was the first and original social network in that it created connections and started a dialogue, and a community, four months before Facebook even launched. It democratized philanthropy—everyone who paid a dollar could be a part of the community. It was accessible to all, just like social media.

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