Mainers Rally in Washington in the Fight Against Cancer
CANCERMAINE
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
Bangor Daily News
9/20/2006
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20—“If you were told when you leave here today you would get in a car accident and you may not survive, would you go? Would you get in that car?” Dan Bahr of Ellsworth asked.
“Probably not,” Bahr answered his own question. “But people diagnosed with cancer don’t have that choice.”
Four years ago Bahr was diagnosed with throat cancer. “When someone tells you you have cancer,” he said, “times stops.”
He was once told he might permanently lose his voice because of harsh radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Today, he speaks loudly in the fight against cancer, and was chosen to be one of 14 Maine ambassadors to promote cancer research.
Clad in lobster paraphernalia and wearing a pink sash inscribed “Survivor,” Bahr held hands with three other Maine cancer survivors as they took a lap around the Capitol Reflecting Pool. The survivors’ lap was the kick-off ceremony for the annual Celebration on the Hill, an American Cancer Society grassroots event that celebrates cancer survivorship and strives to empower others to advocate for laws that could help in the fight against the disease.
Lura Raymond, 20, of Orono cried as she watched the Maine survivors take a lap. She lost her mother to breast cancer when she was eight years old and has been participating in Relay for Life since fourth grade. Also an ambassador, she said she hopes to provide a real face to how cancer affects the lives of people all over Maine as she and the state’s other ambassadors met with the Maine congressional delegation.
“We’re here to confirm that they don’t just hear us,” she said. ”We don’t just need their voice, we need their vote.”
“This is not some little jaunt through Washington,” Raymond said as she looked out at more than 10,000 people, all wearing purple shirts, gathered on the National Mall. “This is hope.”
In December, Congress passed legislation that cut the budget of the National Institutes of Health for the first time in 35 years and reduced funds for cancer research for the first time in a decade.
“Cancer is the most feared disease in America,” Megan Hannan, the American Cancer Society’s government relations and advocacy director in Maine, said. “We want our members of Congress to know that this fear is felt in every corner of Maine.” This year, she said, Maine alone will see an estimated 7,910 new cases and 3,190 deaths from cancer.
The Maine ambassadors came to Washington with three objectives: Restore and increase federal funds for cancer research; invest in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national breast and cervical cancer early detection program; and to have lawmakers sign the Congressional Cancer Promise, a pledge to support the American Cancer Society’s legislative goals to put the country on track in the fight against cancer.
In the afternoon Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, met with singer/songwriter Jewel to discuss the Breast Cancer Protection Act of 2005 that Snowe introduced with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). The bill would end the practice of “drive through” mastectomies, where women are forced to leave the hospital, sometimes just hours after difficult surgeries, even if their doctors feel they are not ready to go home.
Jill Goldthwait, a state ambassador from Bar Harbor who works at the National Cancer Institute’s Jackson Laboratory in that city and tries to identify federal funding for cancer research, praised the Maine delegation for their support. “We’re preaching to the choir in Maine,” she said. “They get it. These four people have really been out in front. We’re not here to ask much more; we’re here to thank them.”
A vigil was scheduled for Wednesday night and more than 20,000 luminaries purchased by people throughout the country were to be lit to honor those who have won their battles with cancer and in memory of those who have lost the battle. At the same time, the University of Maine in Orono planned a candlelight vigil, organized by Raymond, a junior at the university, before she left for Washington.
“We all speak the same language when it comes to cancer,” Raymond said. “And this many survivors in one place means we’re doing something right.”
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