Cancer CANdor Blog

After years of stalled and anemic funding levels for critical cancer research, Congress came together at the end of last year in a major way to pass the biggest funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) in more than a decade. Champions, including Rep. Kevin Yoder from Kansas, acknowledged the importance of making cancer a national priority and rallied together to make sure resources were available to advance detection tests, treatments and therapies for a disease that is expected to kill nearly 600,000 people in America this year.

Today is the start of ACS CAN's signature annual event: our Leadership Summit and Lobby Day. We'll be welcoming more than 750 cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district to Washington, D.C. for three days of training, presentations, media opportunities and, of course, meetings with lawmakers.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month a month dedicated to honoring youth who have battled cancer and highlighting the work that needs to be done to prevent and treat cancer, while improving the quality of life of patients and survivors.

One thing that Former President Carter said during this morningŠ—'s press conference that has stuck with me is his appreciation for his doctors and the top-notch cancer centers that are collaborating on his treatment.

According to a new edition of the ACS CAN report How Do You Measure Up? released today, most state legislatures are missing opportunities to enact laws and policies that could not only save lives, but also generate new revenue and long-term health care savings.

At our One Degree launch event on March 17, we had an impressive lineup cancer survivors, passionate volunteers, celebrity star power and supportive lawmakers to make the case for more federal funding for cancer research.

I know I am not alone in being touched by cancer Š—– in fact, this is a universal experience in America. But I was heartened to participate in the One Degree campaign launch in Washington, DC last week, to help raise awareness about the way cancer touches all of us and the importance of sustained federal funding for cancer research.

TuesdayŠ—'s event to launch the One Degree Project on Capitol Hill was such a success that IŠ—'m still in awe today. We had a room full of celebrities, lawmakers, partners from the cancer community and passionate advocates from every state all calling on Congress to increase cancer research funding.

There are few things in life that we all share in common, but we are all just one degree from cancer. Whether itŠ—'s a parent, grandparent, other relative, friend, co-worker or even you, we all know someone who has faced this disease, and thus we all know just how important cancer research is to the quality of life and survival of our loved ones.

I was saddened to learn late last week that Dr. Harold Varmus will step down as director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the end of the month.