Penny Feddick: Fighting for cancer reform and more

Penny really stirred things up on Capitol Hill!

With the health care reform bill heading toward the Senate, I thought I’d share a story from one of the Miracle Survivors who is a strong advocate for cancer research dollars.

Penny Feddick, who was diagnosed with Stage IV non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2002, never dreamed she would later stand in front of a presidential candidate fighting for cancer reform. At age 34, she was aggressively fighting for her life.

But she did just that when, years later, the Lance Armstrong Foundation chose her to represent her home state of Arizona when they lobbied for cancer research funding in Washington D.C.  At the time, a certain senator from Arizona was running for president. Penny did not let a little fact like that intimidate her!

Sen. McCain did not seem responsive to our position, so I said to him, “You don’t know how much I spread this word. I have a big voice in my community, and I’m not going to shut up when I go back home.”

 He responded that he was not on the appropriations committee, so there wasn’t a lot he could do. I looked at him and said, “One in two men die from cancer; one in three women will die from it. You’ve already had it, so which one of you will die? There is one World Trade Center a day dying from cancer!”

 He replied, “Boy, you’re a feisty little one!” I later received a nice letter from him, but it was kind of frustrating and a real eye-opener for me. I carry with me in my car the petition of the National Call to Action Against Cancer. I’m sending it to Lance, so when he goes to DC, he can show that people are still concerned about it.

Penny used the same fighting attitude to save her life. When she was first diagnosed, she was told that she only had a year to live if they couldn’t find a bone marrow transplant recipient. They were unable to find a match, but she is obviously alive and kicking and has been cancer-free for four years.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the health care reform bill reaches the Senate. Maybe Obama should look into appointing Penny Feddick to his team!