Locals Rally for Increased Cancer Research Funding

Neuroblastoma is the most common form of cancer in infants, and up until the age of 5 remains one of the most dangerous forms of the disease. While the recovery rates have improved drastically due to research, cancer still remains the No. 1 cause of death from disease in children, which makes the need for further research funding all the more urgent.

This summer, the U.S. Senate will vote on whether to pass House bill H.R. 1553, known as the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2008, which

would allow $30 million annually over five years to be funded to pediatric cancer research programs.

The bill was named in honor of Ohio Congresswoman Deborah Pryce’s daughter, who lost her life to neuroblastoma. A recent House vote amended the bill, and now it has only to clear the Senate before proceedings to get the bill appropriated can begin.

Fort Collins resident Karla Flook, 49, traveled to Washington, D.C. last weekend to urge Senators and members of Congress to support the bill. While there, she joined her daughter Kara Flook, 23, who moved there to attend Georgetown University. The two were among hundreds of others who meet annually in D.C. to raise awareness of childhood cancer.

When Kara was younger, she became part of a small population of people who have contracted neuroblastoma after childhood. She was 15 years old when a tumor the size of a football, was discovered in her lungs.

The sheer mass of the growth had caused Kara’s left lung to deflate, forcing an emergency surgery to remove it.

“They said, ‘you’ve got a real big problem here,’” Karla said. The doctors had found neuroblastoma, and with hardly any time to recover from the surgery, Kara began chemotherapy treatments.

The six months that followed were filled with grueling therapy, assortments of medicine that Kara refers to as “drug cocktails,” and uncertainty.

Kara recalls that when the worst was over—after making it through chemotherapy and battling severe kidney damage caused by virulent side effects from medication—one of her nurses told her of a rarely spoken but ever-present concern with cancer treatment.

“My nurse said to me, ‘With chemo, you have to almost kill the kid in order to cure them. And for a little while, Kara, we were afraid we almost went too far with you,’” Kara said.

Kara, who has been in remission for six years, is well aware that the damage caused by treatment was a necessary step towards recovery from cancer. Nevertheless she isn’t convinced it always needs to be that way.

“I think there’s a lot of research for drugs going on out there that do not have to almost kill the kid in order to cure them,” she said.

Following her treatment, Kara and her mother decided to join CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation, which was founded to obtain research grant funding and administer funds from the National Cancer Institute to the Children’s Oncology Group, a pediatric cancer research collaborative.

For nearly seven years, Kara and Karla have made the annual trip to Capitol Hill to join hundreds of other families, physicians, caregivers and friends in encouraging government officials to support cancer research.

Indeed, their efforts have succeeded in urging various lawmakers to back funding and help make childhood cancer more visible to the public eye. Recently, Sens. Wayne Allard and Hillary Clinton passed a resolution which will make Sept. 13 National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day.

And then, of course, there’s the new bill that, if passed, would release funding to allow potential breakthrough cancer research to flourish.

The bill passed the House with no contention, so Karla and Kara have little doubt it will succeed in the Senate. And yet, the waiting process is always filled with tension.

“I don’t want to be too sure of myself because anything can happen,” Karla said. “I am really hoping. It will make a tremendous difference.”

Kara’s optimistic about the progress made thus far, but wants to make sure people are aware of childhood cancer and are helping to support research.

“When I got the news that it passed the House, I teared up, I was so excited about it,” she said. “Most people simply don’t know what’s going on. I knew very little about it. I don’t want the public to find out about it in the way I did.”

While citizens aren’t able to vote on House Bill H.R. 1553, people can offer support by calling or writing letters to local senators and congressmen. More information about CureSearch can be found at www.curesearch.org.