Debbie's Dream Foundation Prepares To Host 10th Annual Stomach Cancer Capitol Hill Advocacy Day

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer (DDF) is set to virtually host its 10th Annual Stomach Cancer Capitol Hill Advocacy Day on February 7 and 8, 2022. Historically held in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill, the annual event has taken place virtually for two consecutive years following the onset of the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocacy Day consists of patients, caregivers, and families coming together with one voice to ask Congress to support increased funding for stomach cancer research.

This year more than 130 advocates from across the United States will meet virtually with their members of Congress. In addition to asking Congress to support the continued inclusion of stomach cancer in the Department of Defense's Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP), advocates will also ask Congress to complete action on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 spending bills and support $7.766 billion for the National Cancer Institute for FY 2023.

Advocacy Day has been a DDF tradition since 2012 and led to the inaugural inclusion of stomach cancer in the PRCRP in 2015 and more than $24 million stomach cancer research funding through the program since then. Most recently, the NCI launched the Ad Hoc Working Group on Gastric and Esophageal Cancer. In FY 2020, Congress took a critical step forward in the fight against stomach cancer by directing NCI to develop a "strategic plan" for research on gastric and esophageal cancer. NCI has made important progress in implementing that directive with the launching of this Working Group which will identify stomach cancer research needs and opportunities. This progress encourages DDF and its patient advocate community to trust that their efforts will continue to lead to more funding, medical breakthroughs, and an end to stomach cancer as we know it.

"DDF's 10 years of advocating for more federal research funding has led to tremendous movement in the right direction for stomach cancer research," said Andrea Eidelman, Chief Executive Officer of DDF. "Debbie's Dream Foundation is proud to have started and sustained this movement to inspire others to join us in advocating. I do not doubt that as a result of these meetings we will eventually find a cure within our lifetimes."

For more information about DDF's Annual Advocacy Day, visit www.DebbiesDream.org/advocacy. To learn more about DDF and other resources offered, visit www.DebbiesDream.org.

About Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer
DDF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about gastric cancer, advancing funding for research, and providing education and support internationally to patients, families, and caregivers. DDF seeks as its ultimate goal to make the cure for stomach cancer a reality.

DDF was founded in 2009 by Debbie Zelman after she was diagnosed with stage IV incurable gastric cancer in 2008 and given only weeks to live. Debbie is considered a pioneer by many for bringing awareness to the plight of stomach cancer patients worldwide and the lack of federal funding for stomach cancer research. She did all of this while receiving hundreds of rounds of chemo, in addition to daily oral treatments. Debbie passed away on December

23, 2017, almost a decade later, at 50. As a result of her leadership, DDF now has a Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of world-renowned doctors and chapters throughout the United States and Canada and Germany. DDF strives to continue Debbie's mission and to make her dream a reality. To learn more about DDF, please visit us at www.DebbiesDream.org.

Media Contact:
Brittnay Starks
Communications Coordinator
Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer
(954) 475-1200
[email protected]
www.DebbiesDream.org

SOURCE Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer