The story behind The Fairness to Kids with Cancer Act of 2019

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On Friday, Sept. 20 this new bill, H. R. 4429, the Fairness to Kids with Cancer Act of 2019, was introduced to the House of Representatives by Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania’s 1st District. Two years prior the Congressman had attended a gala hosted by Storm the Heavens Foundation in Philadelphia, PA, with Executive Director Mina Carroll. He was strongly affected by the eloquence of Mina’s speech about the merciless killer DIPG, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, and the fact that our federal government on any given year over the last decade has directly purposed less than 4% of its cancer research budget to pediatrics. As a result, deadly and prevalent pediatric brain cancers like DIPG have had no progress in standard treatment nor terminal prognosis for decades. The gist of her message is that we must do better for our children, and she challenged the lawmakers in attendance to do something about it!

Steve Healey, CEO of the Brooke Healey Foundation in New Providence, NJ joins us also, as he has played an important role in the creation and ongoing support for this important new bill. Congressman Fitzpatrick joins us during the 2nd segment to share about the conception of the legislation, it’s specific vision of fairness in policy, and his hopes for inspiring support for this cause in the childhood cancer community.

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