Young Survival Coalition co-founder and board of directors president Lanita Moss was diagnosed with a form of breast cancer called Paget’s disease in 1996 at the age of 32. She has a strong family history of early onset breast cancer, which has had a unique influence on her approach to breast cancer issues.
In 1998, Moss co-founded the YSC with two other young women after finding a distinct lack of support and services for young breast cancer survivors. The same year, Moss lost her husband, Tom Hausman, in the Swissair 111 crash off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.
Moss’ life has been marked by turning personal adversity into advocacy for others. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and a member of the Kansas Bar Association, she uses her legal background to further the mission of the YSC to provide support and services for all young women diagnosed with breast cancer. She is a graduate of Project LEAD®, and she helped found YSC Kansas City. Moss, her husband and step mother-in-law participated in the 2007 York Tour de Pink, a 200-mile bicycle ride from Hershey, Pennsylvania, to New York City, raising funds for the YSC and awareness about young women and breast cancer.
An air safety activist, Moss served as a board member of the National Air Disaster Alliance. She also was a family representative on the American Red Cross International Air Safety Disaster Committee. She has been a volunteer and speaker for aviation disaster response for the Kansas City Red Cross and a speaker for Delta and Southwest Airlines regarding aviation disaster response.
Moss lives in Kansas City with her husband, Colby Moss, and their two daughters, Elliott and Hunter.
