Officials, volunteers: Funding won’t be enough until cancer cure found

By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

The Carl Junction post office is bedecked in pink this month for breast cancer awareness.

But the real focus is on a small, blue and gold stamp that depicts a woman doing a breast self-exam.

Postmaster Sharon Clark is selling them for 55 cents each. She said she plans to donate 11 cents per stamp to breast cancer research “to find a wonderful word: a cure.”

Clark, a breast and uterine cancer survivor, said her goal is to sell $10,000 worth — more than 18,000 stamps — this month and donate the proceeds, about $2,000, to national research programs.

The National Cancer Institute, the country’s principal agency for cancer research, says it spent $572.6 million — almost 12 percent of its annual budget — on breast cancer research in 2008. That’s more than double what it spent on research for lung cancer, the most prevalent cancer nationwide.

Julie Kapp, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri, is studying young women and mammography under a two-year, $165,000 grant from the institute.

Her research focuses on women younger than 40 who have had mammograms. Accepted guidelines recommend that most women begin getting mammograms at age 40.

“Breast cancers in women younger than 40 can be deadlier than breast cancers in women over 40, but these are very rare,” Kapp said. “There are a number of harms associated with too much screening, such as radiation exposure and if you are told to come in for additional tests when there really is no cancer.”

Kapp said her goal is to understand the women who are getting mammograms at an early age.

“The long-term goal is to better identify which young women would benefit from early mammography so they can get the care they need, and the other women can focus on diseases that may be a bigger risk to them, such as heart disease,” Kapp said.

Other agencies

Other federal government agencies funding cancer research include the National Institutes of Health, which encompasses the Cancer Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Breast Cancer Research Program, a division of the Defense Department, funds research projects aimed at eradicating breast cancer.

The program began in 1992 with a $25 million congressional allocation for research on breast cancer screening and diagnosis for military women and their families.

The following year, an advocacy campaign from the National Breast Cancer Coalition led to an appropriation of $210 million for research. Since then, Congress has given $2.36 billion to more than 5,500 breast cancer research projects that have been funded or recommended for funding through the program.

Organizations

Organizations outside the government also devote millions of dollars each year to breast cancer research. The American Cancer Society has given more than $388.4 million since 1971 to researchers studying breast cancer, which is more than it gives to any other cancer research.

That makes it one of the largest sources of private, nonprofit cancer research funds in the U.S., said Ashley Hill, communications director for the society’s Springfield office.

One of the organization’s biggest fundraisers is its Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. The regional office held its walk on Oct. 17, attracting 2,500 participants and raising more than $112,000, Hill said.

She said money raised locally is typically divided between the national office for research, and local programs and services for breast cancer patients.

“There is always a need for more funds,” Hill said. “The American Cancer Society depends on its passionate and dedicated volunteers through events like Relay for Life and Making Strides to help us raise the funds for more research.”

As of March 1, the society was funding 218 research projects relating to breast cancer. Projects include studying the role of insurance and government policies in screening among low-income women, the use of DNA microchips to identify genes involved in breast cancer development, and the possible side effects of certain breast cancer treatments on thinking and memory.

Komen for the Cure

Since 1982, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has awarded more than 1,100 grants for breast cancer research totaling more than $400 million.

The foundation’s many affiliates help with fundraising. About 75 percent of the money raised through the Kansas City affiliate goes to local agencies for breast-health education, screening and treatment. The rest — amounting to about $300,000 last year — goes toward national research, said Aimee Tilley, public relations manager.

Tilley, who works with individual and group fundraisers on behalf of Komen, said that every donation, no matter how small, helps.

“What we are finding on a national and local level is that until the cures are found, we need to keep working towards that, and the funding for the research is how the cures are going to be found,” Tilley said. “I don’t know that there’s ever enough (funding). Until there’s a cure found, I don’t think you’ll find any Komen staff person saying that there is enough funding.”

Organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Breast Cancer Coalition often work together to advocate for increased government funding for research, and equal access to screening and treatment.

Bills in works

Earlier this month, a health subcommittee of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee conducted hearings on bills that would:

Encourage education and awareness of breast cancer among young women.

Require that health insurance plans provide coverage for a minimum hospital stay for mastectomies, lumpectomies and lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer, and coverage for secondary consultations.

Eliminate contributing factors to disparities in breast cancer treatment.

Require that group and individual health insurance coverage and group health plans provide coverage for annual screening mammographies for women 40 or older.

U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has co-sponsored the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act, which promotes breast cancer awareness for young women.

“Breast cancer research funding is at unprecedented levels this year, and scientists and medical professionals are hard at work seeking a cure,” Blunt said through his public information officer, Dan Wadlington. “Neither public nor private sector researchers should stop their research on breast cancer, or any of the other deadly diseases that strike Americans, until a cure is found.”

Carl Junction’s Clark wants to help find that cure any way she can; this is her third year selling stamps for research programs.

She said that because of the economic downturn, sales are lagging slightly compared with last year’s effort. But she won’t let that deter her.

“I’m happy if we just get $1,” Clark said. “That’s $1 that wasn’t there before.”

Research focus

Breast cancer research gets hundreds of millions in funding each year from federal and state governments, nonprofit organizations, and individuals. Much of the current research focuses on understanding what causes the disease, what might prevent or lower one’s risk of getting the disease, and which treatments are most effective.

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