Cancer advocates "all aboard" train to lobby lawmakers

CONTACT:
Stephanie Winn-McCorkle
Cell:  916 802-4033
Email: [email protected]

MEDIA ADVISORY  

Cancer patients and survivors are “all aboard”

campaign train to Santa Fe to lobby lawmakers

Media Welcome to Ride Along!

SANTA FE– Cancer survivors, caregivers and healthcare professionals from across the state will ride the rails to the New Mexico Capitol on Monday, February 9, 2015, to ask lawmakers to continue the fight against cancer.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) gives people touched by cancer a way to make a difference by training them how to work with lawmakers on policies that help prevent, detect and better treat cancer.  Once a year, as the legislative session gets underway, the volunteer advocates make their voices heard by heading to Cancer Awareness Day at the Capitol and many of them pack a car on the New Mexico Rail Runner as they rally together in preparation for the day’s activities.

Media are invited to ride along on a free pass to observe the campaign in motion as it takes to the rails for the 1.5 hour ride to Santa Fe. On board are several youth groups and two boys in particular who have a lot to say to lawmakers about the importance of stopping cancer in its tracks. 

Meet Octavio Lopez a young brain cancer survivor and Garret Martinez about to enter his teens without his father who died from cancer.  Both have committed themselves to helping conquer cancer in their lifetimes.

2015 New Mexico Day at the Capitol

Date:                          Monday, February 9, 2015

Time:                         Train departs Los Ranchos Station in Albuquerque at 7:36 a.m./arrives Santa Fe at 9:00 a.m (see www.riometro.org for complete train schedule).

                                                (breakfast provided en route; free return pass available)

Interviews:               Youth advocates, cancer survivors and lawmakers

 ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.