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Celebration planned

2 min read

This September I will join 10,000 other cancer advocates on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s “Celebration on the Hill,” a unique event with a clear purpose – to make federal lawmakers understand that cancer must continue to be a national policy priority. Celebration on the Hill will assemble cancer patients and survivors, their families, and other American Cancer Society grassroots volunteers to advocate for laws and public policies that will help fight this disease. As someone who’s lost too many loved ones to cancer, I will be sharing my story with legislators to persuade them to restore and increase funding for live-saving cancer research and treatment programs.

The timing of this effort has never been more crucial. After years of increasing federal research funding, the White House and Congress have begun freezing or reducing the budgets of the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The proposed cuts would put the squeeze on worthy programs such as the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which provides breast and cervical cancer screening tests to uninsured and underinsured women nationwide. Efforts to reduce funding for programs such as this one are shortsighted, especially at a time when the number of Americans dying from cancer has finally begun to decline.

Sheila Shea

McClellandtown

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