Schakowsky Joins Lance Armstrong To Unveil The Cancer Screening, Treatment, And Survivorship Act

SCHAKOWSKY JOINS LANCE ARMSTRONG TO UNVEIL THE CANCER SCREENING, TREATMENT, AND SURVIVORSHIP ACT

WASHINGTON, DC–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) delivered the following remarks during a press conference with Lance Armstrong and her colleagues in the House and Senate to unveil the Cancer Screening, Treatment, and Survivorship Act. Congresswoman introduced the Cancer Screening, Treatment, and Survivorship Act to make early detection services and care available to more Americans.

"My family and my life, like most everyone else's, have been touched by someone with cancer. My daughter-in-law died of colorectal cancer just over a year and a half ago, leaving behind two young children and a husband.

I know all of you here today have either struggled with cancer yourselves, or know of someone who has. Although we all share different personal stories, we are united in our effort to destroy this common enemy.

I thank each of you for coming today and opening up your hearts to share your personal stories with us about why this legislation is so critical.

I also want to thank Lance Armstrong for all of his work. He is such a wonderful advocate and brings a real strength to this issue and his cause.

I am thrilled to be introducing this bill today with my colleagues in the House and Senate, Rep. Sue Myrick, Senator Harkin, and Senator Snowe.

I also want to recognize the work of Congresswoman Lois Capps who has also joined us today and who (along with Rep. Sue Myrick) is co-chair of the House Cancer Caucus and a tireless advocate for cancer patients and their families.

Thanks to these co-chairs, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection program has made strides in increasing funding and access to breast and cervical cancer screenings.

This program has been enormously successful and by applying what we already know about early detection, access to care, and improving quality of life, I know that we are going to make a huge step forward in the fight against cancer with the passage of the Cancer Screening, Treatment, and Survivorship Act.

As all of us here today know, we have made great strides in our fight against cancer in recent years.

In the last 35 years, the number of cancer survivors has well over tripled — and that of course includes children; today almost 80 percent of kids diagnosed with cancer will survive more than 5 years whereas 40 years ago, only 4 percent of kids would survive beyond five years from their diagnosis.

But many hurdles still remain…cancer strikes 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women and will rob 8.6 million years of life from Americans every year.

Jonathan Alter, a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek, wrote a touching, funny, insightful commentary on his experience with cancer in which he writes that "the only constant in cancer is inconstancy; the only certainty is a future of uncertainty…...

Today, let's bring just a little more certainty and comfort to the one-third of Americans who will hear the dizzying words of a cancer diagnosis at some point in their lifetime.

Let's make a statement today that we are committed to increasing access to screening and technology to all those who need it — including the uninsured, that we will work to improve the quality of life for cancer survivors, and that we are going to invest in strategic and targeted research to create new screening methods and to improve health outcomes in the future.

Early detection in breast, colon, rectal, cervical, prostate, oral cavity, and skin cancers can mean an 86 percent five year survival rate. This tells us that early detection and appropriate intervention significantly improve outcomes for those diagnosed with cancer.

We're learning more and more that many of the 56,000 colorectal cancer deaths (the second leading cause of cancer deaths) each year are unnecessary and could be prevented with better access to screening–particularly among the uninsured population.

This bipartisan, bicameral bill means that action to reduce the number of cancer deaths will be pushed back no longer.

We can — and we must take action this Congress. And today we will begin our effort to save lives with the introduction of this bill.

I truly look forward to working with all of you to ensure its swift passage....