Children with Cancer Take to Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 15, 2015 – Volunteer advocates from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) will join more than 250 childhood cancer patients, survivors and their families on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, June 16, to ask Congress to continue to support initiatives that would improve research, treatment and outcomes for children with cancer. The fourth annual Childhood Cancer Action Day event, coordinated by the Alliance for Childhood Cancer, is an effort to advance important legislation that will benefit the nearly 16,000 children newly diagnosed with cancer each year and more than 379,000 survivors of childhood cancer in the U.S.

“A family member’s battle with cancer devastates any family, but it is especially heartbreaking if a child is dealing with a diagnosis. Tragically, a number of childhood cancers have no treatments at all and remain incurable,” said Chris Hansen, president of ACS CAN. “The goals for this Childhood Cancer Action Day are to raise awareness and elevate childhood cancer as a priority issue for members of Congress.”

Advocates ranging in age from 3-73 will meet with their members of Congress to ask for their support for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) as well for co-sponsorship of the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access and Research (STAR) Act.

“The STAR Act will increase childhood cancer research funding to ensure we’re making more rapid progress against the leading disease killer of children in this country,” said Hansen. “It’s imperative that Congress help provide researchers with the tools they need to advance our understanding of childhood cancers and develop effective, targeted treatments to help children fight this disease.”

The STAR Act will be introduced by Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and John Isakson (R-GA). The legislation expands child, adolescent and young adult cancer research, develops model systems to help improve survivors’ care, improves tracking of cancer incidences and identifies opportunities to expand the development of therapeutics for childhood cancers.

In 2014, about 1 in 285 children between birth and 19 years old were diagnosed with cancer, and nearly 2,000 of them tragically died. While some advances in treatment have increased the survival rate for some childhood cancers, cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease for children ages 5-14 in the U.S.

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.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Lauren Walens or Steven Weiss
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Phone: (202) 661-5763 or (202) 661-5711
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

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