PUBLISHED: 21st November 2025
"While we wait, may we all work, so these hard days need not be wasted" are the words Robert March writes to his daughters in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.
My own father, Jim Miller, shared a similar spirit. He passed away in 2021 from pancreatic cancer related to the ATM gene mutation that he discovered our family carries. I tested positive for this mutation in 2023. Since then, I have had many hard days full of grief and discovering obstacles in managing my risk. And while I eagerly await new research and policy changes, volunteering through FORCE provides me with an outlet to help work towards a better future for the hereditary cancer community.
As a third-year medical student, volunteering with FORCE has allowed me to combine my medical training with my personal hereditary cancer experience. Through my Patient Advocate Leader and Research Advocate volunteer roles, I have had the opportunity to educate fellow medical students, researchers, state and federal lawmakers and even a global audience through TEDx.
I am continuously grateful for the ways FORCE has encouraged me to turn my experience into advocacy, and I am humbled to be in a community of volunteers who collectively ensure that the hard days need not be wasted.