Then a friend posted her status. Let me paraphrase what she wrote.
I hope everyone out there hanging ribbons to raise awareness will work hard to lobby their Congressman to support cancer research funding.
I agree with her 100%. It is wonderful to make women aware of the disease and its symptoms. This way women will get diagnosed at earlier stages. But we also need, dare I say even more than awareness, the research to better understand the disease, to develop a screening test for the general public and to better treat the disease.
We need more federal dollars for research and more private research dollars.
Lets look at the estimated FY 2013 NIH funding for 3 gynecologic cancers and HPV vaccine research provided by the NIH at
Cervical Cancer - $113 million
Ovarian Cancer - $148 million
Uterine Cancer - $ 42 million
HPV/ cervical vacccine - $ 26 million
Together they do not equal the $800 million for breast cancer research. Actually most other cancers get more federal research dollars. Only Pancreatic and Liver cancer get lower funding than the gynecologic cancers.
There is also an Ovarian Cancer Research Program(OCRP) as part of the Department of Defense (http://cdmrp.army.mil/ocrp/ ) . The DOD OCRP program has a $20 million budget for 2013.
So when the time comes for research budget discussions please spend the time to e-mail or call your congressman to ask to increase the funding for ovarian cancer research. Or if a local ovarian cancer organization raises funds for research through walks or auctions or other events - make a donation.
Ribbons matter but funding for research is the key to save women's lives.
Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!
3 comments:
Dee- Spot on! The NIH report is fascinating reading. We do everything we can to support the cancer warriors in the labs who are leading the fight. Research dollars need to be well spent. I am appalled at studies which are rehashing of what has now become the obvious - "limited processed meats" - "the connection between fat intake and ovarian cancer was highest among women who had never had children and those who had never used oral contraceptives". Hmm - women with uninterrupted ovulation are already in the higher risk category - could that be the reason???? We need research for better screening and higher survival rates NOW. Our sisters are depending on us.
Dee, I couldn't agree more! We are crushed under the weight of "awareness" campaigns — while a staggeringly small amount of all money raised is channeled into research. An even smaller amount is spent on metastatic (Stage IV) research. And metastatic cancer is what ultimately kills.
Thanks for another great post. ;-)
Amen, sister! I have found this to be a hard message to convince other survivors of. Being a research advocate is much more work than doing awareness projects but we gotta make it a priority!
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