Nashville Area Resident Visits Capitol Hill to Advocate for Robust Lung Cancer Research

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American Lung Association' Jeff Seyler, Congressman Jim Cooper, LUNG FORCE Hero Kathy Leiser, and ALA's Gail Bost of Nashville

NASHVILLE TN (03/27/2018) (readMedia)-- Nashville resident and lung cancer survivor Kathy Leiser traveled to Washington, D.C., March 21 to meet with members of the U.S. Congress to demand action.

Through the American Lung Association's LUNG FORCE initiative, Leiser stood alongside others personally affected by lung cancer to advocate for $38.1 billion in Fiscal Year 2019 in funding for the National Institutes of Health for better treatments and early detection for lung cancer, and to ask Congress to act to protect quality and affordable healthcare for people with pre-existing conditions, including lung cancer.

During Advocacy Day, Leiser met with Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee's Fifth District and aides of Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander to share her personal experience with lung cancer and explain why Congress must act to pass bipartisan legislation to stabilize healthcare marketplaces and tell the Trump Administration to stop a proposed rule that will hurt people with pre-existing conditions.

Leiser was fortunate that her lung cancer was caught early through a lung CT scan. Most are not that lucky.

"A lung CT scan saved my life before I had symptoms of disease. I feel unbelievably fortunate to have found my cancer so early," she said.

There will be over 6,030 people in Tennesse diagnosed with lung cancer and 4,480 will succumb to the disease in 2018. The LUNG FORCE "State of Lung Cancer" shows how the toll of lung cancer varies state by state, and Tennessee ranks 48th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia with a lung cancer incidence of 77.2 per 100,000. It's important to Kathy Leiser to share her story with lawmakers and others so that more can be done to help lung cancer patients and their caregivers throughout the United States and in Tennessee.

"The LUNG FORCE Advocacy Day was a great representation of not only how many lives are touched by lung cancer, but an important reminder that there is hope," Leiser said. "It's critical that Congress act and pass bipartisan legislation that will help stabilize the healthcare marketplaces, as well as push back against the Administration's attempts to further undermine healthcare for people with pre-existing conditions. We need to ensure that high quality healthcare is affordable and that people can have the care they need. All health insurance must be required to include patient protections, including preventative services like lung cancer screening."

Leiser very strongly supports advocacy for research & healthcare. I am particularly upset at the state of healthcare in rural Kentucky & Tennessee and encourages others to advocate for lung cancer research and healthcare coverage for people with lung cancer by contacting their members of Congress, and learning more about the state of lung cancer in Tennessee at Lung.org/solc.

To learn more about the LUNG FORCE initiative, visit LUNGFORCE.org.