Cancer Rally Spreads Hope
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2002–The scene at the nation’s capital Thursday could be described in one word: purple.
Nearly 6,000 American Cancer Society (ACS) volunteers clad in purple T-shirts, crowded the National Mall and Capitol Hill as part of “Celebration on the Hill” a day to celebrate cancer survivorship and push Congress to provide more funds for cancer research and prevention. The delegates represented all 50 states and each of the 435 Congressional districts, including two from Essex County.
Bumping to the tunes of “Stayin’ Alive” and “Celebration,” the group rallied at a makeshift track around the National Mall, with individuals from every state delegation walking the track at all times. The relay, according to ACS, was meant to symbolize the ongoing fight against cancer. The participants sported purple shirts covered with buttons and ribbons calling for more funding for many types of cancer.
“Celebration [on the Hill] is the cumulative voice of millions of American Cancer Society volunteers sending a message to our elected leaders that cancer is an issue in their own backyards,” said Ray Davis, the event chair of the volunteer task force, his voice beaming across the Mall through loudspeakers.
With lawmakers anxiously working to complete the federal budget, volunteers (or “community ambassadors,” as they called themselves) each visited a congressman from their district to garner support for cancer research and education programs, and to call for expanded access to early detection and treatment to help people fight cancer.
Jessica Slate, who has worked with a Gloucester organization fighting tobacco use, and Robert Mehrman, a Beverly anti-tobacco education consultant, met with Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) in his office and encouraged him to free up more funding for the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health.
“I told him to show me the money,” Mehrman said. “He said ‘okay.’”
They both agreed that their meeting with Tierney went well and said the congressman had long been a supporter of funding for cancer-related programs.
“He knew pretty much all about what we were here for,” Slate said. “He feels that there’s got to be some changes in the way the U.S. government is spending money.”
Slate’s grandfather was diagnosed with cancer when she was young, and she has had two members of her family die of the disease. Mehrman, 75, has survived cancer of the larynx, bladder and prostate and is now battling a relapse of the bladder cancer.
Despite the fact that many of the participants had lost loved ones to cancer or had undergone massive hardships themselves because of the disease, the mood in the tent designated for Massachusetts volunteers was nothing but hopeful.
“We can’t influence public policy like the PACs can,” said Thomas Sellers, chief financial officer of ACS’s New England Division. “But we can show we’ve got community-based support all across the country.”
When asked what he hoped to bring back to the people of Massachusetts from the event, Mehrman, speaking with an electric voice box used by people who have had their larynx removed, said, simply, “Hope.”
Published in The Gloucester Daily News, in Massachusetts
