WASHINGTON - At age 76, with a metal brace on one knee and a cane in his hand, Arthur Grist knows he''s probably not cut out for all the walking he did Wednesday on the National Mall.
But he believes any soreness he may feel today is better than the nausea he endured during radiation treatments for prostate cancer. Grist is a retired public health professor from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He was in Washington to lobby Congress to reverse proposed funding cuts for cancer research.
"You''re cutting money out of cancer research? Are you kidding me?" Grist said. "They need to get their act together and put that money back in."
Grist joined nearly 10,000 cancer survivors and cancer research advocates Wednesday who met with legislators and rallied outside the U.S. Capitol. Delegations from every state pushed three initiatives:
To increase research funding. President George W. Bush proposed a $40 million cut in the budget for the National Cancer Institute. The House agreed to that cut, while the Senate proposed a $9 million increase to the current $4.793 billion budget. The institute says it needs almost $300 million more to maintain services.
To renew an early detection program and add $47 million to its budget. The program provides screening and treatment for breast and cervical cancers to low-income, uninsured women, but the American Cancer Society says it only reaches one in five eligible women. The extra funding would help at least 130,000 more women.
To persuade members of Congress to sign a Cancer Promise, in which they support increasing research funding and making cancer-related issues a priority.
The National Mall was a sea of purple T-shirts throughout the one-day event. At night, about 20,000 luminarias encircled a pool in front of the Capitol.
"Cancer can no longer be fought in the laboratories and at the bedsides, as it was years ago," said Maryann Coletti, an oncology nurse at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis'' Barnes-Jewish Hospital. "We have to fight it in the halls of Congress and in our statehouses."
A resolution supporting the goal of eliminating cancer-related deaths by 2015 passed the House unanimously Tuesday night.
Jenny Steinmann, a Florissant resident and cancer survivor, emerged optimistic from her meetings with three Missouri members of Congress.
"I did everything I wanted to do and said everything I wanted to say," said Steinmann, a junior at Creighton University. "The ball''s in their court."
Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., spoke optimistically about the detection program but sounded less certain about increasing research funding, said Tom Smith of Jerseyville, Ill.
Smith said it was "hard to gauge" how effective the brief meeting was. "I hope we''ll be OK."
"We''ll survive," he added later.