Participants needed for cancer study

American Cancer Society conducting Cancer Prevention Study-3

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A nationwide cancer study is coming to South Florida, and participants only need to donate an hour of their time, a few teaspoons of blood, and fill out a survey.

In 2012, Lainie Jones juggled her wedding plans with cancer treatment. It was her seventh battle with the disease.

Jones, 29, was first diagnosed with adrenal cancer at 18 months old.

"At 24, I was diagnosed with breast cancer stage 2. At 25, I got melanoma. At 26, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer," she said.

Jones works for the American Cancer Society, which is conducting the Cancer Prevention Study-3. The study will follow thousands of participants for the next 20 to 30 years

"With the treatment I've been going through and the research being done, I am able to call myself a survivor and I am able to live every day like it's my first," said Jones.

"This is the only study of its kind that is looking at a generation of people," said Tracey Paige with the American Cancer Society. "[It's] also looking at the genetic, behavioral, lifestyle of those people, [and] why does one person get cancer and one person not get cancer."

Participants must be between 30 and 65 years old and have never been diagnosed with cancer, not including basal and squamous cell skin cancer. Accepted participants will then give a small blood sample and fill out a survey.

"What did you weight at 18? What type of vitamins are you taking? Where do you live exactly? How much do you exercise? Do you eat meat or dink alcohol?" said Paige.

Previous cancer prevention studies found a link between smoking and lung cancer, and showed aspirin lowers the risk of colon cancer.

"Who knows, maybe 10, 20 years from now, cancer may be a word of the past and that would be an amazing thing," said Jones.

The American Cancer Society is looking for 2,100 participants in South Florida.

Click here to see where you can enroll for the study.