Dear Janice:
There is wonderful news out of Washington today for women with ovarian cancer and those who care about them. Congress has passed an omnibus appropriations bill for this fiscal year, which includes everything we asked for!
The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance fought for funding to support critical ovarian cancer research and education programs. Despite the difficult economy, we won!
•We won $5 million for Johanna's Law: The Gynecologic Education and Awareness Act, which received no funding in last year's appropriations bill.
•We won $4.9 million for the Ovarian Cancer Control Initiative, which was initially cut from the funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
•We won $16 million for the Ovarian Cancer Research Program (OCRP) run by the Department of Defense. This is a tremendous victory, as the Senate
Initially proposed funding of just $10 million. The Alliance organized a letter, signed by our Partner Members and colleague organizations, that urged Congress to support the House funding level of $16 million. The letter noted that "the OCRP's unique method of funding ovarian cancer research has yielded tremendous breakthroughs in the fight against ovarian cancer."
We are grateful to the many members of Congress who supported our requests, especially Representatives Dan Burton and Rosa DeLauro. They took the lead on a letter that encouraged funding for the OCRP, saying "Designed to promote increased flexibility, OCRP research produces innovative, high impact and valuable results through strategic partnerships between advocates, lab scientists and clinicians."
Thank you to all the advocates who sent thousands of emails and made scores of calls to Congress this year, letting them know just how many Americans are touched by ovarian cancer--and why we need dedicated funding for education and research. We could not have done this without you.
With warm regards,
