Cancer Patients and Survivors Make Capitol Visit to Urge Legislators to Make Cancer a Priority

Volunteers met with state lawmakers to advocate for cancer prevention, detection and treatment for all Coloradans

News provided by

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)

Mar 12, 2015, 05:54 ET

DENVER, March 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cancer patients, survivors and caregivers from across Colorado joined together today in Denver. The advocates met with Colorado's state legislators to ask for their support for local control of cigarette sales, full funding of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund, increasing colorectal cancer screening rates, and to sign the American Cancer Society Caner Action Network (ACS CAN) Colorado Cancer Pledge.

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) volunteer advocates gathering at the Colorado Capitol to call upon state lawmakers to make the fight against cancer a priority. Nearly one hundred cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones from across the state came together in Denver, to meet with Colorado's state legislators.

In Colorado, approximately 24,540 people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in 2015, and estimated 7,590 will lose their battle to the disease. Volunteer advocates gathering at the Capitol today called on state lawmakers to change these staggering statistics by taking steps to make the fight against cancer a priority.

"As a breast cancer survivor and long-time advocate, I will let my lawmakers know that if we're going to eliminate cancer as a major health problem in Colorado, the fight against this disease must be top of mind for our legislature," said Valerie Curtis, Colorado's state lead ambassador with ACS CAN. "Coloradans deserve a focus on cancer to ensure that we reduce suffering and death from this disease."

Specifically, the volunteers asked legislators to:

Support local control of cigarette sales. Legislation has been introduced to enabling more effective local control of this public health concern.
Support a colorectal cancer screening educational program with a goal of 80 percent of Colorado adults aged 50 and over being regularly screened for colon cancer by 2018.
Fully fund the state portion of projected program expenses for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund for the upcoming budget cycle.
Sign the ACS CAN Colorado Cancer Pledge as confirmation of support for the policies and investments that will eradicate the disease.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.

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SOURCE American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)