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A Cancer Survivor Speaks Out on the Devastating Impact of Cancer Research Cuts

Stacey Tinianov/LinkedIn

Mar 13, 2025, 06:55

A Cancer Survivor Speaks Out on the Devastating Impact of Cancer Research Cuts

Stacey Tinianov, Co-founder of Advocates for Collaborative Education (ACE), shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Twelve years ago today, I rode 100 miles on my bicycle. I had breast cancer in these photos but I didn’t know it yet.

A couple of months later, I benefited from decades of research and access to care that allowed me to hear the words “no evidence of disease;” allowed me to watch my children graduate from middle school, high school, and most recently college; and allowed me to celebrate 25 years of marriage.

Today, after over a decade in cancer advocacy, the dissonance between the gutting of budgets for cancer research and the number of NEW metastatic cancer diagnoses among my family, friends, and community members over the last month is both astounding and soul crushing.

Perhaps, if you’ve never been on the receiving end of a diagnosis, the research budgets for The National Institutes of Health and the CDMRP may seem ridiculous to you but, I can promise you that, at some point in time, the need for cancer research will become painfully and devastatingly obvious.

Nope, I’m not okay today.

People who may, or may not, know a thing or two about running a company are now trying to run our country with an eye for lean manufacturing and ‘fail fast’ methodologies. But the United States is NOT a start-up company. We are a nation. A nation where, according to the American Cancer Society, almost 2 MILLION people will be diagnosed with cancer this year and almost 18 MILLION are already living with the disease.

Congress appears to be the final hope in maintaining any semblance of science-based research – please use your power as a constituent – make your voice heard. If you haven’t already put your congressional representatives on speed dial, the U.S. Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121.”