Faith, Family, and the Power of Saying Yes: Daria Ross on Turning Survivorship Into Action

Advocate Spotlight: Daria Ross

At 47 years old, Daria Ross was living her dream in New York City when a quiet moment on her couch changed everything. It was October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when she felt a lump during a self-exam. Within weeks, she was diagnosed with Stage 2, Grade 3, triple negative breast cancer.
Daria did not waste time.

She made the decision to move back home to Michigan for a second opinion and to undergo treatment surrounded by her family. What followed was a grueling year: multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and the emotional whiplash of navigating a life-threatening diagnosis while trying to make informed decisions quickly.

After her surgery, she remembers, between 15 and 20 family members filled the waiting room, refusing to let her face the moment alone. And when members of her care team made her feel unseen or unheard, she made the difficult decision to change providers, trusting her instincts even when fear was loud.

When she thinks back on those times, Daria shares that even in the uncertainty, one thing was clear: She wasn’t going to be passive in her care. “I trusted my instincts when something didn’t feel right,” she says. “Even when I was afraid.”

Her instinct to speak up, to ask questions, and to seek better care would eventually shape not just her survivorship, but the purpose that emerged from the experience.

Today, Daria is the founder of a public health-driven consulting practice, a patient education and advocacy strategist, and a Patient & Community Impact Advocate providing peer support, grant development, and community-centered advocacy services for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations. She is also seven years into survivorship, and focused on protecting her peace while amplifying her voice and the voices of others whose experiences deserve to shape the policies that affect them.

When Advocacy Finds You

Daria will tell you that advocacy found her before she ever claimed the title.

During treatment, people began reaching out, asking what she was learning through the experience and how she was navigating decisions. She shared what she knew, helping others by translating medical jargon into plain language and offering reassurance.

It didn’t take long for her to realize there was a gap. “There was a real gap in patient understanding and support,” she says. “I couldn’t keep what I had learned to myself.”

That realization pushed her further. She pursued a graduate degree in public health to deepen her knowledge and expand her impact. She became an ambassador and advocate across multiple organizations, including serving as a VOICES of Black Women Ambassador, volunteering with her local ACS/Making Strides Leadership Team, and becoming an ANGEL Advocate with the Tigerlily Foundation.

Daria’s advocacy spans community outreach, peer support, and policy engagement at the local, state, and national levels. She has advocated on Capitol Hill. She has sat in rooms where decisions are made and shared what those decisions look like in real life, in hospital rooms, in waiting rooms, and in family kitchens.

For Daria, advocacy isn’t theoretical. It’s personal.

As a Black woman diagnosed with an aggressive subtype of breast cancer, she began asking hard questions about why disparities in diagnosis, access, and outcomes persist. She remembers moments of unclear communication. The frustration of pandemic-related delays in reconstructive surgery. The weight of navigating overwhelming information while making life-altering decisions in real time.

Those experiences didn’t just stay with her, they shaped her voice and how she uses it.

Finding Her Voice with Cancer Nation

Daria’s connection to Cancer Nation began in 2022, when a fellow survivor encouraged her to apply to what was then the NCCS Elevate Ambassador Program.

She said yes, and that yes changed everything.

As a 2022 Elevate Ambassador, Daria found herself in a community that centered around survivorship, not just treatment. She participated in workshops, connected with fellow advocates, and gained hands-on experience engaging with policymakers. In 2023, she served as a panelist at the Virtual CPAT Symposium on “Elevate Survivorship: Exploring Community Survivorship Programs.”

Through Cancer Nation, Daria says she strengthened her ability to translate lived experience into policy conversations. She learned how survivorship care plans can transform post-treatment confidence. She saw how collective storytelling can move legislators. And, she discovered that when survivors gather, not just to share pain, but to demand better care, change becomes possible.

“Speaking with legislators and sharing my story has strengthened my advocacy and renewed my energy,” she says. “I bring everything I learn back to my community.”

That ripple effect is how movements grow.

“Do It Afraid.” Daria’s Advice to Other Advocates

Ask Daria how she defines advocacy, and she does not hesitate.

“Advocacy saves lives,” she says. “When patients speak up, systems listen.”

To her, advocacy is turning lived experience into action. It is ensuring policies reflect real people and real needs. It is moving from surviving to shaping what comes next.

But she is also honest about the emotional weight. Advocacy means carrying stories, your own and others’. It means confronting systems that do not change overnight. It requires rest, faith, and intention.

As she enters seven years of survivorship, she is clear about one thing: protecting her peace allows her to serve sustainably.

Her advice to others who are considering getting involved in advocacy? “Say yes and step in. Do it afraid. You don’t need to have all the answers.”

Daria Ross chose to use her voice, even when it felt scary, and because she did, her community is stronger. Her voice echoes in legislative offices, and her presence reminds newly diagnosed patients that they are not alone.

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