Political Quotes

“I am pleased to be joined by Senators Fischer, Menendez, Casey, Klobuchar and Franken in the introduction of the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Reauthorization Act. This legislation is an extension of ongoing bipartisan efforts in the Senate over the past decade to hopefully one day cure cancers in children, adolescents, and young adults. I first started working on this issue after meeting the Haight family from Warwick, Rhode Island in June of 2004. Nancy and Vincent lost their son, Ben, when he was just 9 years old to neuroblastoma, a very aggressive tumor in the brain. With the strong support of families like the Haights for increased research into the causes of childhood cancers and improved treatment options, I introduced legislation that eventually was signed into law in 2008 as the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act. Since then, I have worked to secure funding for these efforts, including $6 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, to improve the ability of state cancer registries to rapidly collect information on the diagnosis and treatment information of children with cancer, and $1 million for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, HHS, to help educate families about treatment options and follow-up care. Then, last year, I met Grace. Grace, from Providence, RI, is now 10 years old and is a survivor of medulloblastoma, another type of tumor that forms in the brain.…”