Debbie's Dream Foundation Hosts Successful 10th Annual Virtual Stomach Cancer Capitol Hill Advocacy Day

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer (DDF) hosted a successful 10th Annual Stomach Cancer Capitol Hill Advocacy Day on February 7 and 8, 2022. The event has been hosted virtually for the second consecutive year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This year, roughly 120 registrants representing 31 states met with lawmakers to share their journeys with stomach cancer and advocate for increased stomach cancer research funding.

Each year, advocates share their stories with members of Congress about the effects of stomach cancer. Along with their stories, advocates asked lawmakers to support the continued inclusion of stomach cancer in the Department of Defense's Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP). Advocates also requested that Congress complete action on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 spending bills and support $7.76 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for FY 2023. DDF and its patient advocate community have watched their efforts translate into greater investments in stomach cancer research.

Since FY 2015, more than $24 million has been allocated to stomach cancer research funding through the PRCRP. Last year, the NCI launched an Ad Hoc Working Group on Gastric and Esophageal Cancer — the culmination of DDF's years-long advocacy in support of a scientific framework-like process to identify unmet needs in stomach cancer research.

"We continue to be inspired by the increased attention, funding, and efforts by our federal government to support a disease that was once widely ignored," said Andrea Eidelman, Chief Executive Officer of DDF. "Today, we find comfort in knowing that progress continues to be made with research, and we move closer and closer to our goal of ending stomach cancer as we know it."

For more information about DDF's advocacy efforts, visit www.DebbiesDream.org/advocacy.

About Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer
DDF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about gastric cancer, advancing funding for research, and providing education and support internationally to patients, families, and caregivers. DDF seeks as its ultimate goal to make the cure for stomach cancer a reality.   

DDF was founded in 2009 by Debbie Zelman after she was diagnosed with stage IV incurable gastric cancer in 2008 and given only weeks to live. Debbie is considered a pioneer by many for bringing awareness to the plight of stomach cancer patients worldwide and the lack of federal funding for stomach cancer research. She did all of this while receiving hundreds of rounds of chemo, in addition to daily oral treatments. Debbie passed away on December 23, 2017, almost a decade later, at 50. As a result of her leadership, DDF now has a Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of world-renowned doctors and chapters throughout the United States and Canada and Germany. DDF strives to continue Debbie's mission and to make her dream a reality. To learn more about DDF, please visit us at www.DebbiesDream.org.

Media Contact:
Brittnay Starks
Communications Coordinator
Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer
(954) 475-1200
[email protected]
www.DebbiesDream.org

SOURCE Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer