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Today, the ACCO desperately needs your help.

Today, we are reaching out to everyone in the childhood cancer community across the country and asking you to take action—because today, just one small action could make a very big difference in the life of a child with cancer.

Yesterday, we received the very exciting news that that Childhood Cancer STAR Act (Survivorship, Treatment, Access and Research (H.R. 3381/S. 1883) added the 100^th Cosponsor in the U.S. House of Representatives and the 12^th Cosponsor in U.S. Senate. Why is this news so exciting? Because it means that support for this critical piece of potential legislation is continuing to grow and gain momentum every day. At ACCO, we are working to keep this momentum building, to convince members of Congress that this bill must become law, that the future of children fighting childhood cancer are depending on them to ensure that research into new and better treatments can continue. But we need you to join our voice! We invite you to please add your voice to ours in encouraging every member of Congress to support this vital bill and make it law!

The STAR Act is currently sitting in committee and will remain there until it garners enough support to begin the process of moving it through committee, then up to a vote by the House and Senate, and then onto the President’s desk to become law. Unfortunately, 112 Cosponsors is just not enough to make this happen. In particular, we need more support of Republicans. We currently have 26 House Republicans and 3 Senate Republicans as cosponsors, but we believe that we need at least 50 Republicans in the House for this bill to move onto the next stage of the complex law-making process. We encourage you to help convince Republicans in the U.S. Congress that the children of this country need this bill to become law to help eliminate the threat posed to them by childhood cancer, the primary disease-related cause of death for children under 14 in the United States today.

We ask you to contact Republicans in Congress and ask them to cosponsor the STAR Act today!

At the end of this post, you will find a list of Republicans in the Senate and the House whom we would like to target for their support, along with the email address of their office staffer. We ask you to send them an email urging them to support this critical bill. Remind them that this important childhood cancer legislation gives hope to children currently undergoing treatment, to survivors of childhood cancer suffering long-term health effects of today’s toxic treatments, and to the 1 in 285 children under the age of 20 who will be diagnosed with cancer next year and every year until a cure is found. Inform them that without sufficient funding into advanced treatment alternatives and clinical trials, children with some forms of cancer will continue to face unacceptably high rates of mortality and all survivors will continue to struggle with long-term, significant threats to their health as a result of their cancer treatment. Implore them to add their support to the growing list of Congressmen and women who understand the critical nature of this potential legislation and the dire need to ensure adequate funding so research and quality care can continue.

What is the STAR Act and why is it so important?

Nearly all children who receive a diagnosis of childhood cancer—90% in fact—rely on government-funded clinical trials for treatment, trials supported by NCI’s Children’s Oncology Group. In fact, because developing treatments specific to each unique form of childhood cancer is relatively unprofitable for private pharmaceutical companies, the NCI funds nearly all research into new treatments for childhood cancer. Unfortunately, dramatic funding cuts have impaired the NCI’s ability to promote critical research efforts and support desperately-needed clinical trials.

Part of the ACCO’s mission is to promote the on-going efforts of the NCI and the Children’s Oncology Group. We helped write the STAR Act to ensure that these vital organizations receive the funding they need to continue the critical and promising work they have started. The Star Act is an important first step in addressing the critical funding gap that currently undermines the potential for much-needed advances in treatment protocols for all forms of childhood cancer, as well as expanding and supporting data collection and research initiatives that play a critical role in the struggle to end childhood cancer forever.

If you have a personal connection to a Republican in the U.S. Congress, or if you simply believe in the importance of adding your voice to the growing chorus of people encouraging Congress to make this critical bill into law, we ask you to contact your Congressmen and women today and ask them to add their name to the growing list of cosponsors. On behalf of the children fighting cancer today and those who will fight it tomorrow, we thank you for your help and support!