Farmington Hills Cancer Survivor Lobbies in D.C.

Dick Jaeger of Farmington Hills traveled with other Michigan cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers to Washington, D.C., and met Sept. 27 with representatives of Rep. Gary Peters to discuss the need to protect funding for cancer research and prevention programs.

The visit was part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Leadership Summit and Lobby Day, which brought nearly 600 cancer survivors and volunteers from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district to Washington. They called on Congress to commit to fund proven cancer control programs and research to help develop better early detection tools and treatments for cancer.

“We cannot afford to rest on past successes in fighting cancer,” said Jaeger. “Even in this tough economic climate, Congress should commit to protecting funding for research that makes existing tests and treatments more effective and works to find breakthroughs for the most deadly cancers.”

The lobby day was preceded by hundreds of events across all 50 states during the week of Sept. 19, when advocates collected thousands of stories from cancer patients and survivors about personal milestones they have reached in their lives thanks to cancer research. Those milestones were delivered to members of Congress and put on display on the National Mall.

In Washington, Jaeger stressed that thanks to past investment and continued breakthroughs in cancer research, millions of cancer patients and their families have reached milestones that they may not have thought possible following their diagnosis, turning cancer from an automatic death sentence decades ago to a disease that includes about 12 million survivors today.

“As an advocate I know how important cancer research is to treatment, care and saving lives,” he said. “As I handed them the milestone stories from Michigan, I let Peters' representatives know how critical it is that Congress sustain funding for cancer research and programs. We cannot reduce death and suffering from cancer if our country does not invest in potential medical breakthroughs.”

Before their meetings on Capitol Hill, cancer advocates attended trainings on communicating with elected officials, speaking with the media and engaging in grassroots activities in their communities.

Federally funded medical research and cancer prevention programs have had a role in every major advance against this disease, resulting in 350 more lives saved from cancer per day than in 1991. Despite this progress, cancer continues to kill 1,500 people in the United State every day – nearly 570,000 people each year.

For more information about ACS CAN and the Celebrate with Action campaign, visit acscan.org.