U. of Hartford Coach Gallagher Teams Up with Cancer Survivors

At the end of September, nearly 700 cancer patients, survivors, volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district gathered in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Leadership Summit and Lobby Day. Advocates urged Congress to take steps to make cancer a national priority and help end a disease that still kills more than 1,650 people a day in this country. As part of the event, University of Hartford men’s basketball coach John Gallagher put rivalries aside and teamed up with other Division I basketball coaches and Connecticut cancer survivors to urge Congress to make the fight against cancer a national priority and support an increase in federal cancer research funding.

Joining the hundreds of cancer-fighting advocates from ACS CAN, Coach Gallagher spoke at the event with Coach Chris Holtmann from Ohio State University, Coach Jeff Jones from Old Dominion University, Coach Steve Donahue from the University of Pennsylvania and PJ Carlesimo who has coached in both the NCAA and NBA. Together, they emphasized that the federal investment in cancer research, prevention and early detection programs is vitally important to helping people prevent and fight the disease.

Also in attendance was Adam Clemens from Glastonbury, who became an ACS CAN advocate over a decade ago in honor of his mother, who he lost to breast cancer. Clemens met with Connecticut’s Congressional delegation to ask for support in three key areas in the cancer fight. They discussed the need to support an increase in federal funding for cancer research. He also asked them to advance legislation that works to improve patients’ quality of life and to support legislation that would close a loophole in Medicare that can result in surprise costs for seniors when a polyp is found during a routine colonoscopy.

“Too many Americans are suffering and dying from cancer every day. Families across this country are counting on Congress to lead the fight against this terrible disease,” said Natalie Shurtleff, volunteer manager for ACS CAN in Connecticut. “Our team of volunteers from Connecticut, along with Coach Gallagher, are here asking Congress to commit to making cancer a national priority by increasing federal funding for cancer research, supporting improvements to patient quality of life and eliminating surprise costs for seniors getting colorectal cancer screenings.

“Roughly one in three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Their lives may depend on the decisions made by our lawmakers today. We want Congress to know that volunteers from Connecticut, and from every state across the country, are counting on them to take action now to fund cancer research and ensure those with a history of cancer have access to affordable, meaningful health coverage.”

The event was part of the annual ACS CAN Leadership Summit and Lobby Day, which brought nearly 700 participants, including cancer survivors and volunteers from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district, to Washington, D.C., to call on Congress to commit to investing in cancer research that develops better early detection tools and treatments.

Specifically, Clemens and Coach Gallagher, along with the team of volunteers from Connecticut asked their Members of Congress to:

• Increase funding for research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $2 billion for Fiscal Year 2019. All of us have been touched by cancer – whether it’s a friend, family or ourselves directly. There is perhaps no better way for Congress to demonstrate support for the fight against cancer than by funding lifesaving research to develop better treatments. Over the last three years, there has been tremendous support for cancer research funding with sustained increases in federal funding, including the Fiscal Year 2018 increase for the NIH of $3 billion. The Senate budget bill increases funding for NIH by $2 billion and we need the House to follow suit as they make their final budget decisions this month. Today, advancements in research are saving more lives than ever. But to continue the progress that has led to medical breakthroughs for treatments and therapies for millions of cancer patients we need an increased, sustainable federal investment. Shortly after the advocates visit - for the second year in a row - Congress approved the $2 billion NIH research funding increase Adam and his fellow survivors advocate for. Since then, President Trump has also signed the increase into law.

• Support the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA) which will greatly improve the quality of life for cancer patients. From the very moment a person hears “you have cancer,” they deal with the anxiety and fear of the unknown, followed by the pain and side effects of treatment, and finally, the often-lingering physical symptoms of survivorship. It doesn’t have to be this way. There is an extra layer of support widely available to patients and their caregivers called palliative care. In addition to their curative treatment, patients can receive help from a team that often includes a palliative care specialist, a nurse, a social worker, a pharmacist and a psychologist to better coordinate their care and manage their symptoms. Studies have shown that patients who receive palliative care have better quality of life and even better treatment outcomes. Palliative care saves the health system money by reducing the need for emergency room visits, hospital stays and intensive care. PCHETA has tremendous bipartisan support in Congress. It recently passed the House unanimously and is awaiting action in the Senate, where the bill already has 33 cosponsors.

• Support the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act. Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the United States, yet it is also one of the most preventable forms of cancer through routine screening. One of the biggest barriers to screening has been cost sharing. Cost sharing has been mostly eliminated in the private insurance market, but some Medicare patients can still get hit with a bill if a polyp is found and removed during a colonoscopy, which changes the classification from a “screening” to a diagnostic procedure. ACS CAN supports bipartisan legislation that would eliminate this cost sharing glitch, allowing men and women to receive those screenings without waking from the procedure and

"Cancer is something that has impacted each of our lives many times over, and it's crucial that we make sure our representatives hear our stories and do everything in their power to fight this terrible disease," Gallagher said. "I am proud to stand with my coaching colleagues, our friends from across the nation and so many brave survivors in calling on Congress to pass legislation promoting research into early detection tools and treatments. I urge everyone who reads this to do the same."

The coaches are members of Coaches vs. Cancer®, a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. This group of more than 2,000 Division I, II and III college basketball coaches has made the commitment to beat cancer, raising more than $100 million since its inception to fund cancer research.

About ACS CAN

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.acscan.org.

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