H.R. 745
Dear friends,
Most of you know me and know I do not like to talk about either personal or serious things. But the gravity and importance of this issue requires me to send this note and solicit your help. Three years ago today, my father Robert Geidner died of pancreatic cancer. For the first 50 years of his life he was a very healthy, happy human being. Then eight months after his diagnosis, I was reading his eulogy and saying my goodbyes.
Unfortunately, my father is not the only person to lose his battle to this disease. Nearly 38,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, but more staggeringly over 34,000 American will die this year of this disease. To put this in context, breast cancer will cause just over 40,000 deaths this year. The survival rates for pancreatic cancer are also shocking. The one-year survival rate is under 20%. The five-year survival rate is under 4%. But the most shocking statistic is that currently pancreatic cancer research makes up less than 2% of the National Cancer Institute’s research funding.
How can you help? In honor of my father take 5 minutes out of your day and call your congressperson and ask them to support H.R. 745: The Pancreatic Cancer Research and Education Act. Among other things, this bill would launch a government-funded Pancreatic Cancer Research Initiative to spearhead the much needed research in to this deadly disease.
H.R. 745 was introduced to the House in January. It has been assigned to the Commerce and Energy committee, where it has stalled. A number of congresspeople in the districts a lot of us live (e.g., Youngstown and Columbus) are not currently co-sponsors of this bill. Your lobbying could help.
Also please forward this message to everyone you know.
To find your congressperson’s contact information go here:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
For more information on how you can fight pancreatic cancer go here:
http://www.pancan.org
For more information on H.R. 745 go here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-745
Thanks,
Nick Geidner