Cancer research, funding matters

Along with several Iowans, I traveled to Washington, D.C., recently to represent the voice of cancer survivors and patients in our respective congressional districts.

We met with members of the Iowa delegation to emphasize that there is perhaps no better way for Congress to demonstrate its support for the fight against cancer than by funding that fight.

By increasing federal funding for cancer research at the National Cancer Institute and prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control, we can stop cancer before it starts and get one step closer to a cancer-free world.

Federal investments in cancer research and prevention have led to dramatic improvements in how we prevent, detect and treat cancer. Unfortunately, without adequate federal funding, the next breakthroughs in treatment and prevention may languish in labs across the country while cancer patients like many of our friends and neighbors sit waiting.

Our elected officials need to hear from the nearly 14 million cancer survivors in this country. Visit www.acscan.org/nci to be connected to people like me in your community and learn more about why cancer research and prevention funding matters to us.

Tell Congress we can't afford to let promising research go to waste.

Gary Streit

Volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

Cedar Rapids