Tuesday, June 9, 2009

CANCER SUMMIT UPDATE


This past Monday, June 8, 2009, I was pleased to join Congressman Eric J.J. Massa at his Pittsford District Office and later that same day at his Corning District Office, to officially announce the CANCER SUMMIT, which will be held at the Camp Good Days’ Recreational Facility on Monday, June 22, 2009 from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. We have invited doctors, nurses, social workers, community agency representatives, as well as those who are dealing with and / or have survived their battle with cancer.

For me personally, this CANCER SUMMIT is a dream come true and something I have been waiting for, for a very long time. In 1971, President Nixon wanted to defeat cancer by our country’s Bicentennial in 1976. Here we are now, in 2009, and we have yet to find the answers that have been eluding us in the War on Cancer, which is the most dysfunctional war our country has ever fought. However, in his address to Congress this past February, President Obama opened the door, when for the first time since President Nixon, he stated that cancer is a disease that touches all of us and we can defeat it in our lifetime.

When I started Camp Good Days, I honestly believed that during my lifetime, we would find a cure for cancer and that I would no longer have to watch parents go against the laws of nature and bury their children, as I did, instead of the way it should be, with children burying their parents after a long and rich life. During the past year, I have attended the funerals for nine of our campers.

I have long been frustrated that we as a country have not done more to defeat this disease that this year will kill more than 560,000 of our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, grandparents, and children. In the next 14 months, more Americans will die from cancer than died in every military conflict of the 20th Century, combined. Cancer is an equal-opportunity disease that knows no race, gender, nationality or age. This is not a Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Liberal, or Independent issue, IT IS A PEOPLE ISSUE! President Obama has opened the door and it is the responsibility of all of us to help him successfully defeat cancer, in our lifetime.

We hope this workshop will provide the venue in which we can all come together and discuss ways in which we can develop a grassroots effort for our country’s commitment to bringing the war on cancer to the forefront of the public’s attention and the government’s agenda, as well as map out the steps necessary to defeat this disease. We hope to provide the model for other Congressional Districts across the country.

As a special highlight to our Cancer Summit, Dr. Brian Monahan will be joining us as our Keynote Speaker. Dr. Monahan currently serves as the Attending Physician of the United States Congress. He is responsible for the 535 members of the House and Senate, as well as the nine justices of the Supreme Court. He holds the rank of Rear Admiral and was formerly Director of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the National Naval Medical Center.

As we embark on this journey, I ask that each of you thinks of what you can do to help, as we will bring together the best and will work under the philosophy I first saw hanging on the wall at the Fred Hutchinson Bone Marrow Transplant Center, and now hangs on the wall here at Camp Good Days…”There is no limit to what we can accomplish, as long as it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”…


The CANCER SUMMIT is free of charge to attend, but space is limited and pre-registration is required. Registration forms may be obtained by contacting Laura Osborn, here at Camp Good Days, 585-624-5555 or losborn@campgooddays.org, or on our website, http://www.campgooddays.org/.

No comments: