McCaffery to lobby Congress to protect funding for cancer research

IOWA CITY - Cancer claimed both of Fran McCaffery's parents, a good friend this month, a family friend this spring and tried to take his son last year. The Iowa men's basketball coach is committed to fighting cancer at every juncture, and he's taking that fight to Capitol Hill this week.

McCaffery and three other men's basketball coaches will join cancer survivors and advocates to urge Congress to continue funding cancer research and prevention programs. He has a whirlwind day planned Tuesday, including a speaking engagement at the Coaches vs. Cancer send-off and stops with at least four Iowa legislators.

McCaffery's son, Patrick, had a cancerous tumor removed from his thyroid in March 2014, the same day the Hawkeyes competed in the NCAA tournament. Patrick McCaffery, now a freshman in high school, recovered after several procedures and treatments. He was fortunate.

Family friend and popular 15-year-old Iowa City West student Austin Schroeder - known as 'Flash” - died in April after an aggressive battle with lymphoma. McCaffery's parents, Jack and Shirley McCaffery, both died of colon cancer. Earlier this month Iowa basketball's all-time leading scorer Roy Marble succumbed to cancer at age 48. Marble became a close confidant of the coach when his son, Devyn Marble, played for McCaffery.

'I've done it before,” McCaffery told The Gazette about speaking to Congress about funding cancer research, 'before Patrick got cancer and before Flash passed away and things like that.

'This time we're doing more things.”

McCaffery and his wife, Margaret, always have led the fight against cancer. When he was Siena's men's basketball coach, McCaffery and his wife began 'The Coaches vs. Cancer Basket Ball” in upstate New York. Wednesday, the McCafferys will accept the American Cancer Society's Fighting Spirit Award in Albany, N.Y. on the event's 10th anniversary.

At the Final Four, McCaffery was presented the Coaches vs. Cancer Champion Award, which is given annually to a college coach who demonstrates leadership in the fight against cancer. Each November, the McCafferys stage a local event to raise money for cancer research and they participate in several other fundraisers every year.

In Washington D.C., McCaffery will expand his lobbying efforts beyond elected leaders. He'll meet with executives on Wednesday to lobby private companies to do more for his cause.

'It's good to see the Coaches vs. Cancer program has grown to now include CEOS for cancer because they're in a great position to do a lot, and they're really becoming more and more active,” McCaffery said.

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com