Editor,

It is unacceptable that there is a cancer for which the relative five-year survival rate is still in the single digits at just six percent. It is particularly unacceptable when the overall five-year relative survival for all cancers is now 67 percent and the overall cancer incidence and death rates are declining, while the incidence and death rates for pancreatic cancer, the nation’s fourth leading cause of cancer-related death, are increasing.

Congress has the power to change these statistics by passing the Pancreatic Cancer Research & Education Act (S. 362/H.R. 733), which will ensure that the National Cancer Institute develops a comprehensive strategic research plan. The bill has overwhelming bi-partisan support, including nearly half of the Senate and over half of the House. On June 26, advocates from Georgia will join more than 550 individuals from across the country in Washington, D.C., for the Sixth Annual Pancreatic Cancer Advocacy Day to urge Rep. Jack Kingston to support the bill and bring it to the House floor for a vote before the end of the year.

Please support those traveling to our nation’s capitol by contacting our members of Congress like Rep. Kingston on June 26 for a National Call-In to ask them to pass the Pancreatic Cancer Research & Education Act. Go to www.knowitfightitendit.org to learn more.

Together, we can make a difference in the fight against pancreatic cancer.

— Beth Willis-Stevenson, Hinesville