Senator Brown Speaks About Childhood Cancer

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) recently delivered a speech honoring Alexa Brown, an 11 year-old Northwest Ohioan who recently passed away due to brain cancer. Sen. Brown announced a joint letter he wrote with Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) urging Congressional colleagues to direct an additional $10 million for pediatric cancer research.

“Alexa was an active, happy, and beautiful little girl. Her courage in the face of such tragic circumstances was inspiring,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, Alexa’s battle with cancer is not an isolated case. Cancer is the number one cause of non-accidental death in children. It is responsible for more deaths from ages one to nineteen than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and AIDS combined. And in the Clyde area of Ohio – in the Northwest part of the state – nineteen other children have been diagnosed with a form of invasive cancer in the last decade.”

Brown continued: “Today – on the last day of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month – Senators Voinovich and I have sent a letter to appropriators urging that the final Labor-HHS package include $10 million specifically for pediatric cancer research.”

You can watch Sen. Brown’s complete remarks as delivered in the video above. BTiy can read a copy of Sen Brown’s joint letter with Sen. Voinovich can be found HERE.