In some ways, I am not like a lot of people.
Most people don’t respond to the death of their spouse by starting a national organization to fight the preventable disease that killed him. I know why. It’s not easy and it's scary: it’s hard to figure out the right way to attack the problem, to work with no income, and – for me – to take time away from my daughters who were just nine and twelve when their dad died. ECAN is now more than six years old and we’ve survived those initial hardships.
But there is one thing that is still very hard for me. And in this way, I am like everyone else. I hate to ask people for money. If I were better at it, ECAN would be much further down the road. I am always amazed at the generosity of our supporters and so grateful to those who are willing to reach out to others to support this fight. Everyone who helps ECAN succeed works hard to raise the funds we receive.
So it may come as no surprise to you that ECAN’s budget would just about equal last year’s income of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. That is, if you take away six zeroes. Our budget is literally a million times smaller than the Komen budget. That might be fine if there were a million times more breast cancer patients than there are Esophageal Cancer (EC) patients in the U.S. But that’s not the case. About 13 times more people are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S. than with EC each year. But the resources spent to fight breast cancer far outpace anything available to battle Esophageal Cancer – times millions.
I want to be clear. I respect the success of the pink, Komen and breast cancer causes. I am grateful that my mother is a breast cancer survivor. People for whom I have cared deeply have been lost to this terrible disease. And, as a woman, I am proud that my gender takes care of its own.
But we take care of others, too. It is time that we do more to save the lives of people like my husband and the thousands of others like him who don’t realize they are at risk for Esophageal Cancer until it is too late. And once they are diagnosed, doctors have so few tools to battle this disease because, for each person who dies of Esophageal Cancer, we spend less than $1,800 on EC research each year.
For each of the nearly 18,000 patients diagnosed with this devastating disease this year, on average $89,000 per year is spent to care for them. Even more upsetting, most of these patients – more than 80 percent – will not survive five years. Many – like my husband Monte – will not even survive one year after diagnosis. Just think what would happen if we could invest more money in research and prevention. Surely we would ultimately spend less and have more success at preventing, detecting and curing Esophageal Cancer. We would save many lives.
That’s why I was more than thrilled when an Esophageal Cancer survivor recently offered to fund a matching challenge to help ECAN raise money. This grateful and philanthropic man offered to match every contribution made to ECAN in September dollar for dollar up to $25,000. Even more, if we can raise the full $25,000 this year, he promised to fund another match in 2016, as well. All together, that would total $100,000 to fight Esophageal Cancer!
What could ECAN do with $100,000? We could put more energy into fighting for the equitable research funding our patients so desperately need. We would push for the dollars needed so the findings of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project on EC that ECAN fought so hard to make a reality could be translated into actual targeted therapies that could save patients’ lives!
We could hire staff to help Esophageal Cancer patients and their families access the benefits and assistance they need to make it through one more week of grueling treatment or recovery.
With $100,000, more communities would be sharing that life-saving message that Reflux Disease is No Laughing Matter and Heartburn can cause Cancer and hosting events where patients could undergo free, unsedated scopes to determine if they are at risk.
ECAN could undertake so many important projects if only we had the resources. I know that. Still, it is hard for me to ask you to dig into your pocket. Every day, I choose to work to keep ECAN’s mission alive. That is my decision.
Now you get to make yours. But I beg you to do it soon – our $25,000 matching challenge ends on September 30th. We still have a long way to go to meet the goal.
Please consider how much it’s worth to you to ensure that there continues to be an organization:
As a farmer during the Great Depression, my grandmother knew about making something out of nothing. It’s pretty much the way she raised all eight of her kids. But even my Grandma knew there’s only so much you can do without resources. She taught me an old adage that just may decide ECAN’s future: “Talk’s cheap. It takes money to ride the train.”
Please help us keep this train on the tracks – the ride we need to take is very long. But we are audacious enough to believe that a world where nobody has to die of Esophageal Cancer is a destination we can reach. And though it’s hard for me to ask, it is clear that we can only get there with your support.
Thank you for your commitment to this fight and your consideration.
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