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Special Section |
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS)
Hype or hope? We have heard these words characterize recent reports on this country's so-called "war against cancer."
For the eight million people like me who have had cancer, and for the millions that are being diagnosed this year, nothing happens soon enough. But, I am concerned about the message this type of reporting sends to people and the phones that then ring off the hook at my office from people who are desperately looking for a "cure for cancer."
How are we going to translate this science into applications for people? How are people going to get access to it? We don't have a healthcare system that wants to pay for clinical research, which is what we're talking about here. This is a serious problem. And this problem is not new to us.
My name is Ellen Stovall and I am one of this country's more than eight million cancer survivors. On December 23, 1971, President Richard Nixon signed into law the National Cancer Act. That day also marked something very personal for me. That was the day I began treatment for Hodgkin's disease. I remember going home that night rocking to sleep my two-month-old baby boy, Jonathan. He's now 26. And I remember my dear father calling me to tell me that he had seen the President on television that night, and that the President had declared a war on cancer for me.
Today, that seven-year promise goes unfulfilled. Nearly 27 years later, we are still waiting. We have grown tired of waiting. We have been silent too long. We must begin to say, "NO MORE."
On September 26, 1998, cancer survivors, their families, friends, caregivers, and co-workers—everyone whose life has been touched by cancer—will rally on The Mall in Washington, D.C. and in communities across the country as part of a national grassroots campaign to make cancer our nation's #1 research and healthcare priority. I invite you to join us in this campaign, called THE MARCH...Coming Together To Conquer CancerTM.
Why now? Because for every $10 collected in taxes—the cost of one movie ticket and a small bag of popcorn to see Titanic, a ship which ironically lost in one day the same number of lives we lose every day to cancer—our government spends only one penny on cancer research. This is unacceptable and we must say, "NO MORE."
Why come to Washington, D.C.? Because this is America. Because historically when Americans have had enough—enough segregation, enough oppression, enough injustice—they've come to Washington, D.C. They come to testify, to bear witness, to stand vigil, to protest, to raise their voices, to let their lawmakers know what is unacceptable to them and to say, "NO MORE."
Why THE MARCH? Because people with AIDS and women with breast cancer have shown our legislatures that their persistence, their passion, and their perseverance is here to stay. That until AIDS and breast cancer are no more, they will not go away.
I invite each of you to join us on September 26 when we stand together in Appalachia and Anacostia, in Anchorage and Anaheim, in the pueblos of Albuquerque, and on The Mall in Washington, D.C. Scientists, clinicians, cancer center directors, patients, survivors, caregivers, labor leaders, educators and clergy—each and every one of us as a citizen pledges to be there.
Things have changed since 1971, and we have reason to hope. Science continues to make great progress against the more than 100 diseases we call cancer. In 1998, we are turning hope into action. We need you to stand with us and say "NO MORE. No more waiting, no more patience, no more silence, no more cancer." THE MARCH...Coming Together To Conquer CancerTM. Join us.
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e-mail:info{at}themarch.org
Website:www.themarch.org
Footnotes
THE MARCH... Coming Together to Conquer CancerTM
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