Cancer Bus Will Make Stop Here
By Andrew Smith, The Brunswick News, Ga.
Jun. 14–Angela Kibilko, community manager for the American Cancer Society, is looking forward to a special guest the community will play host to this week.
The American Cancer Society Fight Back Express bus, on a national tour, will stop in Brunswick around noon Friday. It will park in the Outpatient Care Center parking lot of the Brunswick hospital of Southeast Georgia Health System.
Kibilko can’t wait.
“We’re so excited to have Brunswick chosen as a stop on the tour,” said Kibilko. “It can provide education to the local community and speak to local politicians about access to care.”
It left Cleveland, Ohio, in early May and has traveled through the eastern United States, rallying supporters and telling the public what they can do to help make cancer a national priority, like signing its petition.
“The tour can give a lot of hope and inform citizens as well,” said Deborah Riner, an advocate who volunteers on the ACS’s public policy advisory board. “People can come out to sign the bus and listen to the speakers at no cost.”
Rallies shed light on the problem and give people a forum to share stories of loved ones lost, as well as survival.
Speakers will include state Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island, Southeast Georgia Health System Chief Executive Officer Gary Colberg, thoracic surgeon Dr. Walter Scott and Jim Jordan, a cancer survivor.
Jordan, a Brunswick resident, hopes to reach out to those who attend on a personal level. Eight years removed from prostate cancer, Jordan has spoken to groups and individuals about his battle with the second leading cause of death in the United States.
“I’m happy to speak and share the range of experiences I’ve had with cancer,” Jordan said. “From fear to uncertainty before and after treatment, a lot of emotions hit you and never go away.”
Riner believes it’s important to have a male survivor to show that cancer can strike anyone. An estimated 565,000 people will die of cancer this year, including more than 15,000 Georgians.
“Women are usually the face of cancer, but there is a high prevalence of prostate cancer in this area,” Riner said. “If we can give a man’s point of view, more men will listen.”
The Fight Back Express is organized by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, a non-partisan advocacy group devoted to making cancer issues a national priority.
For more information about the Fight Back Express and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network visit www.acscan.org/bus.
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