Nearly 150 cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, physicians and researchers are on Capitol Hill today urging their lawmakers to make the fight against cancer a national priority. ACS CAN volunteers will join advocates from 15 other organizations that belong to One Voice Against Cancer a coalition of 36 national and community-based organizations working together to make funding for cancer research and prevention programs a national priority. Advocates are scheduled to meet with members of Congress and their staff in more than 150 offices. What are they asking for specifically?
The U.S. government is the largest single funder of cancer research in the country, and that investment has played a role in every major advance in the fight against cancer over the past four decades. Researchers across the country are on the verge of making groundbreaking discoveries that could accelerate our progress and bring us closer to ending death and suffering from cancer. We must sustain this federal funding or the promise of recent discoveries could be left to languish in labs, never becoming reality for people with cancer and their families. OVAC's message is powerful. The continued support of our lawmakers is crucial if we are going to beat this disease. I'm looking forward to seeing the impact of today's lobby day. OVAC debuted a new, eye-catching ad to coincide with its lobby day. The ad is running in Capitol Hill newspapers and online through the week. Also, I invite you to read a preview of OVAC Lobby Day that The Hill posted yesterday on their Healthwatch blog. This is the thirteenth year OVAC has hosted its lobby day.
Mariah Forster Olson, an ACS CAN Ambassador Constituent Team Lead (ACT Lead), traveled to Washington, D.C. this week to share her story as a childhood cancer survivor and to advocate on behalf of other patients and survivors during the 2019 Childhood Cancer Action Days.