Ms. Morse Goes to Washington
Survivors
New Hampshire Union Leader
Kendra Gilbert
Boston University Washington News Service
9-20-06
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 – Passersby walking through the Wall of Hope Wednesday at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s Celebration on the Hill stopped to look at the New Hampshire banner. It told the story of Michelle Morse, the 22-year-old Plymouth State University student who died last November from colon cancer and for whom “Michelle’s Law” is named.
Just up the road, her mother, AnnMarie Morse, was petitioning New Hampshire congressmen to support similar legislation nationwide.
“Michelle’s Law,” signed by Gov. John Lynch on June 22, allows full-time students who are insured under their parents’ medical plan to take up to 12 months of medical leave without losing their health coverage.
While thousands of cancer survivors and advocates from all 50 states gathered on the National Mall to bring cancer awareness to the doorstep of Congress, AnnMarie Morse was on a personal quest to meet each of the New Hampshire’s four members of Congress.
The meetings went well, she said.
“We found that Bass and Bradley – actually they all – want to find a way to solve this problem. Exactly what that’s going to be, they’re not sure yet,” she said. “They agree that there needs to be something done to protect these kids.”
While Morse met with members of the delegation individually, she was not alone in her mission. More than 10,000 people were expected to attend the event outside, according to the American Cancer Society. Of the nearly 4,000 ambassadors chosen to represent the states, Lee Kitchen was one of 17 selected from New Hampshire.
Kitchen was diagnosed with testicular cancer three years ago. With his cancer in remission since April, Lee is in Washington to bring public awareness to the disease that not only affected him but also took his grandmother’s life.
“We are down here to represent people up there [in New Hampshire]. and we want to find a cure for this thing,” he said.
In addition to the meetings she had set up with the members of the congressional delegation, Morse also participated in the events on the Mall, down at the New Hampshire booth talking with volunteers and advocates.
“She’s here to be part of the celebration,” Peter Ames, a volunteer in the booth, said.
Ames, the director of government relations and advocacy for the American Cancer Society in New Hampshire, said he hoped to get all four of the state’s delegation to sign the society’s Congressional Cancer Promise, a document that asks lawmakers to pledge their support for cancer research legislation.
“We were pleased to meet with AnnMarie Morse today in Washington, D.C., and
speak more in depth with her about this issue,” Reps. Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley said in a statement. “We also commend the Morse family for their courage and resolve throughout this ordeal and for their efforts to highlight this issue, and we support and applaud the New Hampshire Legislature for reacting so quickly earlier this year.”
The two lawmakers said they would craft narrowly targeted legislation
patterned on Michelle’s Law to address similar loopholes in federal insurance laws. “We look forward to continuing to work with AnnMarie on this issue,” they said.
At the meetings and other events, Morse wore an angel pin to remind her, she said, of Michelle.
Her daughter, she recalled, “didn’t want to be known as ‘Michele Morse’ the cancer patient.” She wanted to travel with her mother around the country. Knowing that Michelle probably wouldn’t live to see that happen, Morse said she told her, ‘Babe, you’ll be an angel with me.’”
According to a report by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, 5,377 new cancer cases and 2,407 cancer-related deaths were reported in the state in 1999, the latest year for which statistics were available.
Lisa Troy, one of the New Hampshire ambassadors, and her boyfriend Scott Starkowsky came down from Pittsfield to attend the event here. They were two of the many people who paused in front of the giant picture of Michelle Morse and read about her battle with cancer.
Starkowsky’s mother, Marti Roslin, died of breast cancer in 2004, 12 years after being diagnosed. He was too choked up to speak, and so Troy spoke for him.
“She was always trying something new,” Troy said of Roslin. “She was right at the beginning of everything,” trying each new cancer drug that came out.
“We need to make cancer more talkable,” Troy said, “and get more funding for cancer research.”
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