Cancer is a Stubborn Opponent
Cancer is indiscriminate and heartless. It attacks men, women, children, seniors, and people of all ethnicities, and is one of the leading causes of death around the world.
In fact, roughly 4 out of every 10 men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives — and I am one of them. Earlier this year, during a routine mammogram, I learned I had breast cancer. As I think anyone who has received a cancer diagnosis will tell you, it was a scary thing. Following rounds of tests, doctors eventually found several sites and two different types of cancer. Thanks to early detection and three weeks of treatment, including a lumpectomy and radiation, I returned to my normal life with a good prognosis, my fingers crossed, and sights set on getting back to work.
Quite frankly, the numbers are unsettling. According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 1.6 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year, and nearly 600,000 people will die. In 2014, an estimated 15,780 children and adolescents under the age of 19 were diagnosed with cancer. Four years from now, it is projected that expenses for cancer care in the United States will reach $156 billion each year.
But we have reason to hope. Between 2003 and 2012, cancer death rates in the U.S. have decreased, meaning more and more patients have become survivors instead of victims — and amazing work is being done all across the country in our shared fight against cancer. I know this first-hand, because I received excellent care in St. Louis from the staff at Siteman Cancer Center. Cancer is, unfortunately, a big club — and it affects a lot of people in some way or another. As a Missourian, I couldn’t be prouder of the work being done in our state for all the folks touched by cancer.
Last year, Siteman’s mobile mammography program served nearly 4,000 women by bringing mammograms — a lifesaving imaging procedure, as I can tell you — to office parks, grocery stores, recreation centers, and other sites that are more accessible to underserved communities. Washington University is leading the way to improve and standardize radiation therapy at VA radiation oncology centers across the country. The Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, the first free-standing cancer center west of the Mississippi river and part of my alma mater’s health care system, has joined the MD Anderson Cancer Network, which works with community hospitals on improving quality of care for patients and solidifying industry best practices. And Truman Medical Center is working with the University of Kansas Cancer Center to develop regional “biobanks,” which are collections of blood, saliva, and tissue samples that are critical to cancer research in America.
This list is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the good work being done in Missouri and around the country — but we can’t let up. We have to be supporting cancer research with everything we’ve got. As a mother, and now as someone who has also been touched by cancer, I’m in awe of the Vice President’s dedication to transforming his personal grief, after losing his son to cancer, into something that could better the lives of nearly everyone in this country. I can’t imagine a better tribute to a child.
It’s time we get strapped in and light the fire on America’s cancer moonshot. Cancer may be stubborn, but so are we.
