Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and his wife, Nechama opened tonight's ceremony marking another year of work for the Israel Cancer Association (ICA).
The speakers at the event included Rivlin, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, and the chairman of the ICA and former president of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), Eliezer Robinson.
Also participating in the event was the ICA's Director General, Miri Ziv, along with leaders and volunteers for the ICA from all over the country.
During the evening, the singer, who lost his mother to cancer, performed the songs "In April or in May" and "Ballad of the Stars."
"For many years the president has opened his door to the Israel Cancer Association." Rivlin said in his address. "This is a long tradition that was started by my predecessors. Since the 1950s, when the association was founded, the number of cancer patients (in the country) has increased five times. On the other hand, the number of people who have recovered (from cancer) has increased nine times. There are more new cancer patients, but there are also more patients who have recovered. Unfortunately for us, we still have too few tools to help (all of the cancer patients)."
The President went on to say "I believe that in the fight against cancer, in the fight for life, we each have a role to play. We are all soldiers. Cancer does not discriminate. It does not discriminate between the residents of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, between the cities and the towns, between Jews and Arabs, or between religious and secular. Cancer hurts when it strikes. And yet, against the pain and the heartbreak I believe there is still hope. That hope is you, the patients who bravely struggle with the pain and the treatments. That hope is you, the precious families that always support them and pray for them. That hope is the medical teams, the researchers and the volunteers. That hope is the men and women of the Israel Cancer Association, who did not let the headlines or the results dictate their work."
Rivlin concluded by saying that "the fight against cancer is complex and it requires considerable resources. Together we will fight for life, health, and happiness, and we will succeed!"
During the event Noam Ottolenghi, a twenty-one year old resident of Modi'in, shared his experience dealing with cancer.
At the age of four, Noam was diagnosed with leukemia. He seemed to have beaten the cancer, but was diagnosed with leukemia again at the age of eight. He struggled to find a bone marrow donor and had a second relapse. Despite receiving bone marrow from his brother, the disease eventually left him disabled and bound to a wheelchair.
Noam was not discouraged, however. He said ""Today I am a healthy person. I learned to deal with my disability and look to the future. And the future that I am planning looks more and more promising. Many people supported me throughout my illness, from my close and extended family, to organizations and communities from around the country and around the world. All the people who came to visit the children's wings and helped strengthen me to get me to this place."
Noam has put his mind to good work despite his illness. In 2013, he won fourth prize in Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for his particle physics research project on the "God particle," known as the Higgs Bosun particle.
Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, said that "We see the fight against cancer as a national value. Israel is a leader in research and development of treatments against cancer. We promote our struggle against cancer in all ways. We recently increased the budget to subsidize medicines for serious diseases for the good of the patients and to improve our health care system."