Day 25: Wrote a Letter to My Congressmen

Ever since finding out about Len Austrevich and his son Miles' battle with cancer, I have been reading and researching about childhood/teenage cancers and the treatments that are available. While reading an article about pediatric cancer medicine, I found that since 1980, the FDA has only approved one drug for the treatment of childhood cancer compared to 50 for adults. The main reason why these drugs have not been developed for decades is due to a lack of profitability for the companies that would create them. This doesn't seem right or appropriate due to the fact that pediatric cancer remains the number one disease killer of American children. The other day though, one of our awesome Facebook friends, Monique V., made me aware of a proposed piece of legislation, The Creating Hope Act of 2011, that would "incentivize pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs for rare pediatric diseases, such as childhood cancers." My mission is, and will remain, apolitical. However, this is something that is backed by both major parties and seems like reform that can have a tremendous impact on children and teens. So today, as my random act of kindess, and on behalf of Monique, I emailed Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk (feel better soon) of Illinois asking for their help to get this passed. You can find more information on the Creating Hope Act here.