Pic from "Worth Fighting For." It's Patrick, showing his muscles while his dad, and a friend smile on. I know wherever Patrick is, he has not lost his incredible spirit.
Dear Friends,
On June 25th and 26th, hundreds of supporters from across the country will gather in Washington, D.C., to participate in the sixth annual Pancreatic Cancer Advocacy Day. I will be attending this empowering event with them to strongly encourage Congress to pass the Pancreatic Cancer Research & Education Act (S. 362/H.R. 733) before the end of the year.
This is our moment. Our devoted advocates around the country have succeeded in getting an overwhelming bi-partisan majority of the House and a near majority of the Senate to co-sponsor this game-changing bill. Thanks to your hard work, the bill has more co-sponsors and more bi-partisan support than any other piece of legislation that has been referred to the congressional committees with jurisdiction over the bill. Building this level of support is an amazing achievement, but we cannot afford to rest now when we are so close to victory.
In an average Congress, only three percent of bills become law. Many of the bills that do not get passed even have strong support among members of Congress and are good policy. A motivated “army of heroes” who relentlessly push to get a bill passed is often the key difference between the bills that become law and those that don’t.
If you haven’t already done so, I hope that you will mark your calendar to participate in the Three Week Challenge to Victory, which starts on June 12th, which just happens to be what would have been, my husband’s and my 37th wedding anniversary! http://pancan.org/section_get_involved/advocate/advocacy_action_center.php.
This Challenge will help to amplify our voices on Advocacy Day. The three challenges are easy activities that you can do from home to help draw congressional attention to the bill and culminates in our annual National Call-In on June 26th. http://www.pancan.org/section_get_involved/advocate/advocacy_day_2012/national_call-in.html
Patrick and me in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 4 months after his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Patrick believed in the power of advocacy and asked Congress to provide additional cancer research funding in the months before his passing in an impassioned editorial in the Washington Post. I know it would have meant a lot to him to have this flag carried on, and that we continue to raise awareness and bring attention to this difficult disease. He would be proud of the work the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is doing to accelerate research progress and create hope.
On June 26, I ask you to support me, and hundreds and hundreds of our passionate advocates on Capitol Hill! Stand up for those who are battling the disease. Stand up for those yet to be diagnosed. Stand up for those who are gone.
For me personally, I can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate Patrick’s and my wedding anniversary Tuesday, June 12th, than by kicking-off the Three Week Challenge to Victory, which leads to our oh- so-most-important National Call-In Day on June 26th. In a way, I feel that Patrick is with me, and we are doing this together – hand-in-hand. And I know with all of our help, we will get this done. We will get this bill passed! I want to see the people fighting pancreatic cancer be given the hope that my husband fought so hard for! I know he does, too.
Please join me as I stand up in Patrick’s memory, for all the loved ones we’ve lost to pancreatic cancer, and those “in the fight” now!
Yes!
Lisa Niemi Swayze
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
Chief Ambassador of Hope
TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS!
If you wish to learn more about this issue – http://www.pancan.org/section_get_involved/advocate/learn_our_issues.php#1_enacting_funding
