Local cancer survivor urges federal lawmakers to make cancer national priority

This week, Kirkland resident Eunice Hostetter joined more than 750 cancer patients, survivors, volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district 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 specific steps to help end a disease that still kills 1,600 Americans every day.

On Tuesday, Hostetter met Sens. Cantwell and Murray and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene to discuss an increase in federal funding for cancer research. She also asked them to co-sponsor legislation that supports patients’ quality of life, and to support legislation that would make colorectal cancer screenings more affordable for Medicare patients. Hotstetter was joined by her daughter Sara Montgomery, also a Kirkland resident, who has been active in helping cure cancer after her mother’s diagnosis.

“This year, more than 1.6 million Americans, including more than 38,100 Washingtonians, will hear the words ‘you have cancer.’ Congress has a critical role to play in helping us reduce that number in the future. As a 12-year breast cancer survivor, I let Washington’s members of Congress know that they can commit to the fight against cancer,” said Hostetter, the ASC CAN Washington lead volunteer.

Specifically, Hostetter and her fellow volunteers who represented all 10 of Washington’s congressional districts, asked their members of Congress to:

• Support a $6 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with $1 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) over the next two years. None of us are more than One Degree from someone with cancer. Each dollar Congress cuts from the NIH and NCI budgets puts us one step further from offering hope to so many Americans. There is perhaps no better way for Congress to demonstrate support for the fight against cancer than by funding that fight.
• Co-sponsor legislation to improve the quality of life of cancer patients with better access to palliative care. Palliative care offers an extra layer of support to patients and their caregivers. In addition to curative treatment, it provides help from a team that often includes a palliative care specialist, a nurse, a social worker, a pharmacist and a psychologist to better coordinate care and manage symptoms during treatment.
• Co-sponsor the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screenings Act. An estimated 50,000 Americans will die from colorectal cancer this year. Half of these deaths could be prevented if everyone over age 50 received screening. The biggest barriers to screening are copayments and other patient costs. While co-pays have been mostly eliminated with private insurance, Medicare patients can get a bill if a polyp is found because their colonoscopy moves from “screening” to a diagnostic. By passing legislation that will repair this rule, Congress could help meet the goal of getting 80 percent of eligible Americans regularly screened for colorectal cancer by 2018.

“We need an unwavering commitment from Congress to help prevent and treat cancer,” said Hostetter. “With this many lives in this country being impacted by these decisions, we can’t afford further delays. We want our lawmakers to know that Washington’s volunteers, and those from every state across the country, are counting on them to take action now.”

The ACS CAN Lobby Day culminated with an evening Lights of Hope ceremony in front of the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool featuring thousands of lights lit in honor of a cancer survivor or to memorialize a loved one who lost his or her fight with the disease.

ACS CAN is the non-profit, non-partisan advocacy affiliate organization of the American Cancer Society, which is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage lawmakers, candidates and government officials to support laws and policies that will make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer.

###