Cover Your Butt

Forty advocates from across the US will come to Washington, DC, on Sunday, March 9th to take the fight against colorectal cancer into the halls of Congress. Their meetings will be a precursor to the Congressional Butt-In on Wednesday, March 19th.

The C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition’s Call-on Congress will provide advocates with information about how the government weighs in on colorectal cancer. They will hear from soldiers in the fight such as:

• Dr. Richard Goldberg, Chief of Hematology and Oncology at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who will talk about how cuts to cancer funding are hurting colorectal cancer patients.
• Reverend Vaughn Profit-Breaux, a colorectal cancer patient who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer early thanks to a state program that is the model for HR 1738, which would guarantee access to colorectal cancer screening to the poor, uninsured and underinsured.

The advocates will then learn how THEY can make a difference for all colorectal cancer patients from leaders in the field such as:

• Jeff Martin, Director of Advocacy Training at the American Cancer Society, who will help the advocates learn how they can build an army of advocates back home.
• Ryan McKee, Legislative Director for Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY-District 13), who will tell the advocates what to expect when they meet with their Members of Congress; and
• Christopher Kush, MPP, CEO of Soapbox Consulting, who has trained thousands of federal, state, and local advocates to effectively advocate for their issues.

On Tuesday, March 11th, the advocates will descend on Capitol Hill for face-to-face meetings with their Members of Congress and their staff. The advocates will be lobbying for the bills outlined in the Cover Your Butt Campaign and for an increase in cancer funding at the National Cancer Institute.

We’ll celebrate the advocates’ successful meetings at the C3 Advocates and Breaking Boundaries Awards Dinner on Tuesday evening, where we will undoubtedly hear about the many inspiring moments that took place on Capitol Hill that day.

The advocates attending the Call-on Congress come from all walks of life. There will be advocates in their 30s all the way up to their 80s. There will be patients, family members of patients, activists and widows. Many will be making their first trip to Washington, DC. Some of them are very sick.

As they make their way to Washington, DC, today, there is a good chance the advocates are terrified of what we have planned for them. But they come anyway because they are driven by the need to make the world better for themselves and for every other colorectal cancer patient out there. They are soldiers in the fight, and they are our heroes.