Harrisburg residents and cancer advocates gathered at the Pennsylvania War Veterans’ Memorial Fountain outside of the Capitol building in Harrisburg this evening to honor the lives affected by cancer with a heartfelt display of 270 Lights of Hope bags representing the estimated 27,000 Pennsylvanians who will die from the disease in 2024. The personalized Lights of Hope bags were lined along the fountain, which was lit pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to symbolize the strength, hope and memories of those touched by cancer.
The event was part of the Lights of Hope Across Am
erica campaign urging Pennsylvania and national lawmakers to make cancer a top legislative priority. Advocates present at the Harrisburg ceremony see Lights of Hope events as an opportunity to reflect on the important advances being made at the federal, state and local level to reduce the burden of cancer. This includes the recent achievement in the PA State Legislature of improving access to biomarker testing.
Before the 2024 summer recess, Governor Josh Shapiro signed Act 39 into law. The legislation will go into effect on January 1, 2025 and will require all state-regulated health plans, including Medicaid, to cover comprehensive biomarker testing, enabling more Pennsylvanians to access the testing that can open the door to precision medicine.
“Cancer has impacted my life immensely. I lost both my father and husband to this disease. Every year, Lights of Hope gives me the chance to honor them, celebrate their legacy and remind lawmakers that they, too, can honor those lost to cancer by prioritizing access to care and cancer prevention policies, like that which was recently passed in PA to improve patients’ ability to activate biomarker testing and precision medicine in their cancer care,” said American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) State Lead Ambassador Donna Kemberling.
During this evening’s ceremony, ACS CAN volunteers honored Representative Kyle Mullins with the 2024 Legislative Champion of the Year award for Pennsylvania. Rep. Mullins was honored for being a champion for cancer patients through his sponsorship of the biomarker testing legislation.
“In the advocacy space, we often hear the word ‘champion’ used to describe our legislative sponsors. Rep. Mullins put that word into action from the time he decided to lead the bill in the House and was a true cancer-fighting champion in 2024,” said Donna Greco, Government Relations Director for ACS CAN in Pennsylvania. “He repeatedly used his leadership platform to amplify survivor voices and the need for biomarker testing coverage in PA, bringing along colleagues in a bipartisan manner.
All the while, carrying his own personal experience of loss to his father to ALS, drawing from that sadness and loss to ensure other Pennsylvanians may not have to suffer without a road map toward effective care and treatment.”
Rep. Mullins said, “The early detection and treatment for cancer or other diseases should never hinge on a patient’s insurance policy or socioeconomic status. With Pennsylvania’s new law guaranteeing insurance coverage for biomarker testing, there is new reason for hope. This new law and the promise of precision medicine is something for advocates, patients, and policy makers to be extremely proud of.”
For more information on Lights of Hope and biomarker testing, visit: www.fightcancer.org.
