Last week, I traveled to Washington, D.C., to represent cancer patients and survivors from Tacoma, Washington to call on Congress to make cancer a national priority. I joined more than 600 American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) volunteers from across the country to ask lawmakers in our nation’s capital to protect funding for cancer research and prevention programs.
I met with Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Jaime Herrera-Buetler, Sen. Maria Cantwell, and staff from Sen. Patty Murray’s office, and made it clear that Congress needs to put partisanship aside on behalf of the nearly 14 million cancer survivors in the United States and more than 1.6 million people in America who will be diagnosed this year.
Funding for research at the National Institutes of Health and for cancer prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and through the new Prevention and Public Health Fund must be top priorities in the federal budget. Legislation recently introduced in Congress to improve the quality of life for cancer patients must also be an important priority.
By making these life-saving programs a priority, we will ensure that progress continues in the fight against cancer.