Mendota volunteer travels to nation’s capital to urge Congress to make cancer a top priority

Staff
Posted 9/13/19

MENDOTA – Mendota resident Jesse Arellano joined more than 700 cancer patients, survivors, volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.

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Mendota volunteer travels to nation’s capital to urge Congress to make cancer a top priority

Posted

MENDOTA – Mendota resident Jesse Arellano joined more than 700 cancer patients, survivors, volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Leadership Summit and Lobby Day, Sept. 8-11. Advocates asked Congress to take specific steps to make cancer a national priority and help end a disease that still kills 1,660 people a day in this country.

As an ACS CAN volunteer, Arellano planned to meet with U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) to discuss the need to support an increase in federal funding for cancer research. He will also ask them to co-sponsor legislation that restricts flavoring of tobacco products to protect kids, support legislation to improve patients’ quality of life and to close a loophole in Medicare that often results in surprise costs for older Americans when a polyp is found during a routine colonoscopy.

Arellano said traveled to Washington, D.C. to help ensure fewer families will face a cancer diagnosis. He added that members of Congress play a critical role in passing public health policies that fight this disease.

“Roughly one in three Americans will hear the words ‘you have cancer’ in their lifetime,” Arellano said. “We need a full and unwavering commitment from Congress to take action to help prevent and treat cancer. We want our lawmakers to know that volunteers from Illinois and from every state across the country are counting on them to take a stand.”