# 51 You Can Make a Difference

The following information was copied from the MBCN (Metastatic Breast Cancer Network).  If you wish to write a letter, obviously the beginning should read, "I am a constituent who has a friend living with metastatic (stage IV) breast cancer." This needs to be done today before the final vote.

You can help me fight this if we join our hands together and, instead of wringing them, use them to communicate the need for more funding.    

Let's make increased funding of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget a priority of the next Congress. 

At our recent MBCN Conference at UNC in Chapel Hill, many UNC speakers urged us to write to our Congressmen/women and Senators to restore the cuts to NIH funding over the past several years.

LET'S DO IT!   STAGE IV NEEDS MORE!

To send an email:

• Click on this link to find your Congressperson and Senators: http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/ 
• Click on your state and then find your representative's name and click on it. 
• On the representative's page, you will then see CONTACT highlighted in red. Click on the link next to it and complete the information. They will usually ask for your Name, Address, Zip Code,etc. There will then be a space to copy and paste the letter which we've printed below.
• Don't forget to send a total of 3 emails: your 2 senators and your Congressman/woman.
• Sending a letter by mail is not a good idea because it goes through a long security process.

Thank you for your support in doing this!
Warmly,
Shirley A. Mertz
President, MBCN

HERE IS THE SUGGESTED WORDING TO COPY AND PASTE INTO YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE:
   

I am a constituent who is living with metastatic (stage IV) breast cancer. I ask your support and passage of a 2015 federal budget that increases funding for the National Institutes of Health to $30.36 billion--this is $211 million or .7 percent above the FY 2014 level-- as proposed by the Director of the NIH and our President. The NIH funds important biomedical research that increases basic scientific knowledge that is applied to reduce illness burden and lengthen lives.  

   

Congress' commitment to NIH funding has declined significantly since 2008. When inflation is taken into account and the costs of research are considered, the decline in funding has meant that fewer good research proposals are funded and talented young scientists leave research and seek opportunities in other professions. Congress' decrease in funding for the NIH has slowed medical advances and hurt patients.

Please show that you are committed to the people of our district and state by talking with your Congressional colleagues about the need to support the NIH Director's proposed budget and pass a budget to reflect his request.

Thanks for writing and for reading # 51