From DC to Hollywood!
Childhood Cancer Action Days
As part of our membership and participation in the Alliance for Childhood Cancer, The B+ Foundation headed to Washington, DC earlier this week to harness the passion and energy of childhood cancer advocates as we lobbied for increased funding for childhood cancer research and related drug development. Our focus this year was threefold:
STAR Act, the most comprehensive childhood cancer bill ever, deals with Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research and is NCI-related.
RACE Act which is a drug development bill that is more FDA-related. In simple terms, the RACE Act would require pharmaceutical companies to test their compounds on pediatric patients if molecular similarities exist between the adult and childhood cancers.
The overall funding of the NIH/NCI. We got a gift (so far) as we arrived in Washington to learn that Congress had gone against the President's wishes last weekend and, rather than cutting research funding at NIH/NCI, they actually added $2.0B in the FY17 omnibus bill. We'll see what happens when this gets to 1600 Pennsylvania. I'm very hopeful that this will survive as this is part of the much larger appropriation to keep the government running through Sept. And, then hopefully, this will be a base upon which to grow for the FY 18 funding bill.
I had the pleasure of being joined by B+ Board Member and passionate childhood cancer advocate, Deb Lewis, and B+ Hero parent, Paul Somerset. We had very nice meetings with Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and members of their staff. I am very optimistic that we will have the full support of the Delaware delegation. I also had the opportunity to thank the greatest of childhood cancer advocates on the Hill, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX). The leadership of Congressman McCaul has been amazing! Thank you, also, to Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) for his leadership in the upper chamber.
B+ is in the Movies!!!
We had been tipped off by a friend and B+ supporter that they had seen "B+" in the new movie, "Fate of the Furious". "Fate of the Furious" stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Vin Diesel, Ludacris, Kurt Russell) and is the 8th of the "Fast & Furious" sequels. Honestly, we were a little skeptical that it was true, so imagine our surprise when we saw the B+ sticker on the back part of the race car in one of the scenes. (This was a race car from ANSA Motorsports who generously featured us on their race cars for the past few years.) If you see this movie, you've got to pay attention...it's a quick glimpse. It's in a scene where they go into a warehouse showroom of fancy cars. Let us know if you see it. B+Live Like AndrewAli & Andrew's Dadwww.caringbridge.org/visit/andrewmcdonough
