Monday was a a beautiful Spring day in Washington, DC and a great day for young adult cancer survivors and the Children's Cause for Cancer Advocacy (CCCA). CCCA held its first lobby day, which brought together 42 survivors and family members meeting with 20 House members or their staffs. The lobby day followed a great weekend of learning, networking and fun - our second Rise to Action - DC conference, held on the Georgetown University campus, and attended by 130 survivors in their teens, 20's and 30's, plus family members.
As a former New Yorker and having lived in DC for almost 10 years, I'll admit a tendency to be a bit cynical (I like to say I'm a realist) about politics and the opportunity for individual citizens to have an impact in an environment that is cluttered with numerous advocates working for lots of worthy causes and professional lobbyists.
But CCCA's lobby day showed, to paraphrase Margaret Mead, that a small group of passionate survivors can go to Capitol Hill, share their stories, and motivate members of Congress to take action. The primary bill that the advocates brought to Capitol Hill was HR 4450, the Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Survivorship Research and Quality of Life Act. Several of the meetings that advocates held with members of Congress or their staff yielded commitments to support the legislation. This is just the beginning of a long process, but the voices and stories of young adult survivors created great momentum, and we need to continue building on their efforts.
I'll provide updates as more news on this bill and other legislation important to survivors moves through Congress.
-craig
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment