For many of us, fighting cancer has become a priority in our daily lives. At ACS CAN, we believe that cancer, a disease that kills nearly 1,500 people a day in this country, should also be a top priority with our elected officials. That's why today, ACS CAN is taking our message to the radio waves. Dick Woodruff, vice president of federal relations, and I are conducting radio interviews across the country in the hometowns of members of the 12-member bipartisan panel known as the super committee places like Springfield, Mass., Louisville, Ky. and South Bend, Ind. We have a clear message to send to Congress: Make cancer a top national priority. By the end of this month, the super committee is required to submit recommendations to Congress on how to reduce the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. Federal investments in cancer research have helped to make significant progress against the disease. In fact, since the mid-1970s, five-year survival rates for all cancers have improved from 50 percent to 68 percent, and there are nearly 12 million cancer survivors in America today, most who owe their lives to cancer research. Congress is facing tough decisions about how to cut the federal deficit, but cutting critical cancer funding is not the way to do it. We need lawmakers to protect funding for cancer research, prevention, and access to health care. Be sure to watch our new national TV ad which calls on Congress to make cancer a national priority.
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.