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I was elated to read about a Houston oncologist’s recent breakthrough in treatments for people living with late-stage cancers. I know firsthand how meaningful these treatments breakthroughs are for cancer patients. In my more than 80 years on this earth, I’ve been diagnosed with, and beaten cancer nine times. While people often remark that I must have drawn a bad hand, I know I’m incredibly blessed. Overcoming cancer time and again and living to see my daughter go on to work in cancer research is a moment I never thought I’d see. But it was far more than just chance or good luck that allowed me to beat cancer.
Without the researchers, oncologists, and pharmaceutical companies who’ve spent the last few decades working overtime to get new treatments into the hands of patients like me, I would not be here today. I think it’s sometimes lost on us the availability we have to modern medicine, medical innovation, and cancer researchers like my daughter. Just a decade ago, patients had far fewer care options for all sorts of conditions (Hep C, Meningitis A, and TB, to name a few). At one point, for people diagnosed with a disease with no known cure like myself, our outcomes could have been a death sentence.
Now the United States’ innovative ecosystem is continuing to discover new therapies and improving existing medications and treatments that are saving lives every day.
Living in Houston, I have been fortunate to receive top of the line treatments throughout my life. It’s one the many reasons I’ve come to so deeply respect the sheer amount of time, work, and resources that go into creating a new medicine. It takes billions of dollars and years of work to get just one medication to the market. It’s long nights of research, rounds and rounds of experiments, endless clinical trials, and grueling trial and error. But it’s because of this strenuous process and committed researchers like my daughter, that remission for diseases once considered fatal are now possible.
Conquering a cancer diagnosis is now not a matter of chance these days. It’s a matter of accessing the right treatments, specialists, and medicines. That’s why I am troubled that Washington politicians are considering legislation that could make this crucial, yet painstaking research even more challenging. Congress is considering a proposal known as prescription price setting. And I’m speaking up because some of the resources needed for more cancer and rare disease research and development could be on the chopping block as a result of passing this type of legislation.
It’s thanks to research and American innovation that I’ve beaten the odds nine times. But for 600,000 American each year, cancer still proves to be deadly, and it is clear more research is still needed.
In their upcoming votes on healthcare, our Texas leaders must ensure patients can continue to access the latest, top of the line care they deserve. I urge them to say no to price setting. These choices can actually be a matter of life and death.
Bob Hall is 80 years old and has defeated cancer nine times. Through his own experiences and his daughter’s involvement in cancer research, Bob has an deep understanding of and stake in continued medical innovation to help others achieve the same positive outcomes he’s been lucky to have.