Advocate Lobbies Lawmakers To Boost Funding For National Institutes of Health

Sign up for the Canton-Sixes Patch newsletter!

---

More than 300 patients, survivors, advocates, doctors and researchers from around the nation, including a Cherokee Family Violence Center advocate, traveled to Washington, D.C. to urge legislators to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health.

Niki Lemeshka, who works as a legal advocate at the Canton-based facility, took part in the Rally for Medical Research Hill Day, which was held Sept. 17.

The goal of the day was to speak with a unified voice to House and Senate offices on Capitol Hill about the importance of investing in the NIH.

“My mother, Pat Lemeshka, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called GIST when I was very young,” said Lemeshka, who is also a volunteer advocate with the LIVESTRONG Foundation. “With limited options for treatment, particularly for rare diseases, medical research became vitally important. Advancements in treatment alternatives in my mom’s case, actually gave us 20 additional years of life together as a family. It was important to me to travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with legislators to remind them that the NIH represents more than just research, it represents hope to so many patients and their families in Georgia.”

While in Washington, D.C., Lemeshka met with Georgia Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, Rep. Barry Loudermilk and six other congressional offices.

“The meetings went very well,” Lemeshka continued. “Every office pledged their support for robust, sustainable and predictable funding for the NIH. It was very exciting because that commitment represents not only a great impact on Georgia’s economy, but I also see it as a tribute to my mom. It is great to know their ‘yes’ to increased funding for NIH research could mean some other daughter out there will have 20 more years with their mother, like I did.”

More than 300 national organizations and institutions, including the LIVESTRONG Foundation, supported the Rally for Medical Research Hill Day by either sending representatives to Washington, D.C. or engaging in grassroots activities through the National Day of Action.

For more information about the LIVESTRONG Foundation, visit the organization’s website.

---

Photo: from left: Niki Lemeshka of Acworth, Volunteer Advocate for LIVESTRONG Foundation; Sen. David Perdue; Lori Blanchard of Atlanta, Multiple Sclerosis Researcher at Emory University; and Viola Lanier of Acworth, Breast Cancer Researcher at the Morehouse School of Medicine). Credit: Niki Lemeshka.