Nearly 100 cancer patients, survivors and their families from throughout Colorado gathered at the state Capitol for Cancer Day at the Capitol March 3. The volunteer advocates with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network called on the Colorado General Assembly to support a proposal that would expand the state’s cervical cancer screening program for uninsured, low-income women.

Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable forms of cancer. For the first time, the screening program would include young women beginning at age 21, as recommended by the American Cancer Society and federal guidelines. If passed and signed into law by the governor, this would enable an additional estimated 2,681 at-risk women in Colorado, ages 21 through 39, to access timely cervical cancer screening and diagnostic procedures to prevent late stage cervical cancer diagnoses, avoiding higher treatment costs and mortality rates. Currently, women have to be 40 to receive such services through the program.

Lifesaving cancer screenings for the medically underserved are vital in order to effectively continue our fight against all types of cancer. When it comes to cervical cancer, all adult women who need screenings should have access to them to allow for early detection when the cancer is most treatable. Cervical cancer can be prevented altogether by detecting precancerous lesions that can be treated so they do not progress to cancer. However, when the cancer is diagnosed at a late stage, the survival rate drops to only 16 percent.

ACS CAN volunteers stopped by Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office to meet with his advisers and personally thank the administration for governor’s role in the state’s budget proposal that would allow for lowering the eligibility age for cervical cancer screenings to 21. The proposal will soon be before the General Assembly, and the ACS CAN cancer fighters told their representatives that maintaining funding and expanding eligibility for the state’s Women’s Wellness Connection cervical cancer program will preserve a critical safety net for thousands of Colorado women who lack access to essential screening, diagnostic and treatment services.

Along with advocating expansion of the cervical cancer screening and treatment program, ACS CAN volunteer advocates also talked to their elected officials about protecting tobacco tax-funded prevention and cessation programs against budget cuts relative to funding levels the program is currently entitled to for the 2016-2017 year. Colorado is expected to collect $285.3 million in tobacco-related revenue, but only 7.6 percent or $21.8 million is expected to be used for tobacco control this year, even though tobacco results in more than 5,000 deaths in Colorado annually.

The governor also signed a proclamation declaring March as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. House and Senate members joined him by passing a Senate Joint Resolution stating the same. Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States for men and women combined. This year 1,790 people in Colorado are expected to be diagnosed with colon cancer, and 650 will die from the disease. Many of these cancer cases and tragic loss of lives could be prevented. Providing all Colorado residents with access to adequate and affordable health care is one of the most effective ways to diminish the death and suffering caused from this disease.

We want to thank Gov. Hickenlooper for his commitment to the cancer fight in Colorado and for meeting first-hand with cancer patients and other who have been touched by this devastating disease. It was truly a powerful day of cancer advocacy at the Colorado statehouse, and we want to thank all the lawmakers who took time out of their busy schedules to listen to our voices as we continue our mission to end cancer as we know it.