Greetings!

Children with cancer rely on us as their family, friends and community to be their voice. While they fight cancer in their bodies, we must be ready to fight this disease as their advocates. They cannot lobby. They cannot vote. They must use their collective strength to fight the cancer. We must use our collective strength to fight the "system."  We must educate ourselves on legislative issues that can positively or negatively impact our children's treatment.

A current issue of great concern is sequestration, which threatens to cut vital funds for childhood cancer research. A budget sequester cuts federal spending across a number of areas, including NIH grants for medical research. This funding is vital, because private companies are often unwilling to invest in research that is not deemed "profitable."

This issue of "The Grassroots" features an article that discusses the impact of sequestration on research for much-needed treatments and, ultimately, cures for cancer and other diseases.

We will keep you informed about the latest developments in future issues of this e-bulletin.  

Ruth I Hoffman MPH, Executive Director

Robert McCartney points out that "few Americans would want their elected representatives to do anything so stupid as slow down medical research that promises to create a universal flu vaccine or find new cures for cancer. That, however, is precisely what Congress is about to do through the indiscriminate, mandated budget cuts known as sequestration."

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, states that "We will lose the opportunity to support some fantastic science...It's possible to look at thousands of cancers and catalogue all the reasons that this disease happens. That gives you a new set of targets for magic-built cancer therapies...That is a big, complicated, expensive program, and it simply will slow down if we don't have resources."

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February 13, 2013    

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee issued a report which discusses the impact of sequestration on numerous federal Agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The term "grassroots" refers to a group of people who have been impacted by a cause and who stand united behind a movement to make a difference in that cause.  As families of children with cancer we are the grassroots voice of our nations' children with cancer. In order to strengthen our grassroots community we need to be informed about policies, legislation, decisions, and opportunities that impact our children's treatment and quality of life, and advocate for better treatments for those children who have yet to be diagnosed.