Beverly Residents Voice Cancer Concerns in D.C.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2002–A contagious mixture of excitement and enthusiasm flowed through the 50 state tents set up for a gathering of cancer survivors and activists at the Capitol Thursday.
Among the thousands attending the event, called Celebration on the Hill, were three-time cancer survivor Robert Mehrman and volunteer Jessica Slate, both of Beverly.
“It’s a great way to demonstrate how much we care and how much our communities care,” Slate, 31, said of the event, sponsored by the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Mehrman and Slate are relay community ambassadors, acting as grassroots volunteers and spokespersons for the group’s advocacy efforts.
“We’re representing our congressional districts and all of the people there that have developed cancer and have been affected by cancer,” Slate said.
At the new two-day event Wednesday and Thursday, cancer survivors, caregivers and volunteers celebrated their battle against the disease while urging Congress to promote more research, education and prevention and calling for expanded access to early detection and treatment to help people fight cancer.
“We’re concerned over the fact that we know that cancer causes death, we know that cancer causes disability and we know that cancer causes a great deal of expense. … It’s so much simpler to prevent cancer from happening,” Mehrman, 75, said. “The National Cancer Institute is doing a fantastic job in doing cancer research, but we would like members of Congress to support bills that would free up money to the National Cancer Institute. They need to put more money in where it does the most good.”
First diagnosed in 1989 with cancer of the larynx, Mehrman, the former executive director of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association, went to see his doctor with what he believed to be laryngitis.
“I stopped smoking two years before the cancer showed up,” he said.
The doctors removed Mehrman’s larynx in 1990, but eight years later he developed cancer of the bladder and had the cancer removed. In 2000, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent radiation for six or seven weeks. Three months ago, Mehrman’s cancer troubles returned with cancer of the bladder. The doctors operated, and he is undergoing treatment.
“We want a promise from the congressional delegation that they are going to vote for legislation” that would help the fight against cancer, Mehrman said. “The ACS provides a lot of useful information. It’s only a small part of the equation, and they can’t do everything. We want to see cancer eliminated. I’d like to see it done in my lifetime.”
Slate said participants in the event are asking Congress to pass the Kennedy-Helms Eliminate Colorectal Cancer bill, to double the National Institutes of Health budget and to continue to invest and expand the budget for overall cancer research and treatment.
Mehrman said the bill, sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Jesse Helms, R-N.C., would provide privately insured people with the coverage they need for a cancer screening. “Screenings are very important because if caught early than they can be [treated successfully],” he said. “It depends on the stage.”
During the morning, Mehrman and Slate met with Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, to discuss their concerns about the fight against cancer.
“He knew pretty much all about what we were here for and he feels that there’s got to be some changes in the way the U.S. government is spending its money,” Mehrman said. “The entire congressional delegation feels the same way. It [the meeting] didn’t have any arm bending or twisting or frowning. They are going to try to free up some funds. I was very positive about the whole thing.”
Slate agreed that the meeting was successful, adding that Tierney “has a history of being supportive.”
Slate, experienced the effects of cancer when her grandfather was diagnosed with the disease while she was in high school. He did survived the disease, but she had two aunts who died from cancer.
“It clearly knows no bounds and no discrimination,” she said.
Published in The Salem News, in Massachusetts.
