Volunteers advocating for Cancer support visit members of the House and Senate : NPR

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Republicans and Democrats are unable to agree on how to reopen the US government. But hundreds of volunteers from the American Cancer Society’s advocacy arm put political differences aside when they came to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress. Noam Levey and our partners KFF Health News tell the story.

NOAM LEVEY: Professional lobbyists in expensive shoes gather in the Cannon House office building as a group of New York citizens gather in a circle on the sidewalk outside. They’re about to visit their congressman’s office, and there’s just time for one last rehearsal.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #1: On this document, it says the message, we appreciate the congressman. This is a first step. We urge Congress to act now.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #2: So, do you feel comfortable with that?

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #1: Yeah. So I’m just going to read the…

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #3: Just read it.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #1: …All of that.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #3: Just read it.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #1: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #3: Yeah.

LEVEY: Cancer volunteers are a microcosm of America – old and young, black and white, Democrats and Republicans. But they share a common bond: cancer. Mary Catherine Johnson is a retiree from outside of Rochester, in upstate New York.

MARY CATHERINE JOHNSON: My mother lost all 10 of her brothers and sisters to cancer. My lifelong friend died of lung cancer at the age of 57.

LEVEY: Johnson herself is a breast cancer survivor. She is worried about the state of our politics.

JOHNSON: I think we’re probably the most divided we’ve ever been, and that scares me. This makes me afraid for my grandchildren.

LEVEY: Katie Martin, a cancer volunteer from Buffalo, is worried, too. She and her daughter recently encountered political protesters shouting at each other in the street.

KATIE MARTIN: My daughter shuts up and then starts asking, what is that? And I don’t know how to explain it because sometimes it doesn’t even make sense to me.

LEVEY: Lexy Mealing, who lives on Long Island and, like Johnson, had breast cancer, says she can barely watch the news these days.

LEXY MEALING: Many Americans are very stressed. There’s a lot going on.

LEVEY: Mealing is a Democrat. Johnson voted for Donald Trump three times. Martin did not want to discuss his politics.

MARTIN: I wish there was a safer question.

LEVEY: But political affiliation wasn’t important when the volunteers met in Washington. Here is Mealing again.

MEAL: No one here has discussed whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, because cancer doesn’t care.

LEVEY: The volunteers spent hours together practicing the arguments they would present to members of Congress. The morning of their visit to the Hill, they gathered in a hotel ballroom.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #4: I think it’s very important that we do this because none of us have been touched by cancer.

LEVEY: Volunteers donned matching blue polo shirts and grabbed red folders to drop off at each congressional office they would visit. They got a pep talk from Lisa Lacasse, head of the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network.

LISA LACASSE: I know you’re going to have such an impact today. Thank you very much everyone, and see you on the Hill.

(APPLAUSE)

LEVEY: Then we took the subway to the Capitol.

AUTOMATED VOICE: This is Capitol South. Doors opening to the left.

LEVEY: The army of volunteers visited 484 Senate and House offices, telling their stories and listing their priorities – research funding, support for more cancer screenings, federal help for people to get health insurance. The latter point was difficult to convince in many Republican offices, but lawmakers from both parties supported the other two. Mealing and the other New Yorkers felt good.

MEAL: It was incredible. Seven hundred of us who went up to the Hill today – you could just feel the feeling that everyone was stronger together.

LEVEY: In the evening, volunteers gathered at the National Mall for a candlelight vigil. It was raining. Bagpipes were playing.

(soundbite of bagpipes playing)

LEVEY: Around a pond near the Lincoln Memorial, some 10,000 tea lights glowed in small paper bags. Each light had a name, that of a person affected by cancer. John Manna, another New Yorker, describes himself as a Reagan Republican whose father died of lung cancer. He reflected on the lessons this day could offer to a divided nation.

JOHN MANNA: Talk to people. Get to know each other as people, and then you can understand someone’s positions. And we have little disagreements but, you know, we don’t attack each other. We talk about it and discuss it.

LEVEY: Manna said he’ll be back next year.

In Washington, DC, my name is Noam Levey.

SIMON: And Noam is with our partner KFF Health News.

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit the terms of use and permissions pages on our website at www.npr.org for more information.

The accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. The text of the transcript may be edited to correct errors or match updates to the audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio recording.