Gillen, Advocates, Pediatric Cancer Survivor Raise the Alarm On How Proposed Pediatric Cancer Research Cuts Will Hurt New Yorkers

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY - Yesterday, Congresswoman Laura Gillen (D-NY-04) held a virtual press discussing how proposed federal funding cuts to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC) will devastate ongoing pediatric cancer research nationwide. On the call, Gillen announced that she was calling on the Administration to reverse these proposed cuts through a bipartisan, bicameral letter. Gillen is joined on that letter by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY-17).

Watch the full video of the press call here.

"Today, I am leading a bipartisan, bicameral push to urge the Administration to restore this funding before it expires in March," said Rep. Gillen. "This is not a partisan issue. It is about our children, American families and the fundamental values we share."

Congresswoman Gillen was joined by Dr. Ira Dunkel, Chair of the PBTC, David Arons, President & Chief Executive Officer of the National Brain Tumor Society, and Gillian, a cancer survivor. They discussed the urgent need for continued investment in pediatric cancer research in New York and across the country.

"In the more than 25 years that the PBTC has existed, we have initiated more than 70 clinical trials and enrolled more than 2,000 patients onto those clinical trials," said Dr. Ira Dunkel, Chair of the PBTC. "This has resulted in important breakthroughs and many high-profile scientific papers and international meeting presentations."

"Parents, kids and researchers all across the country have been astounded at the National Cancer Institute's decision that came out of nowhere to discontinue the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, a program that has been going on for 25 years," said David Arons, President & Chief Executive Officer of the National Brain Tumor Society. "We launched a petition that more than 4,000 people have signed that will go to the National Cancer Institute calling for the protection of these pediatric brain tumor clinical trials, and to reverse the decision to eliminate the PBTC."

"The reason I am here today is because of medical research," said Gillian, a pediatric cancer survivor. "My treatment consisted of nine months of chemotherapy and an experimental process to regrow the gap in my bone. After nine surgeries I can now run and jump, and that's the direct result of research. Without it, I may have had to have an amputation or a knee replacement, and we don't even know if the treatment would have been successful."