Officials at M.D. Anderson are worried that big cuts in research will cause delays that could costs lives. For example, doctors thought that Jason Connelly had only 10 days to live when he came in with stage 4 melanoma. But he's cancer free now after treatment at M.D. Anderson.
"I started crying and he said, 'Daddy why are you crying on the phone?' I said, 'Because I'm so happy.' He was four, so he didn't understand crying because you are happy," said Connelly. "He said, 'Why are you so happy? I said, 'Because daddy isn't sick anymore."
"Our plan is in the next five years to do the research and set up the procedures and processes so that we can carry out this kind of work for every patient that comes to M.D. Anderson. That is my goal," said Dr. John Mendelsohn, President of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Now to reach that goal the doctors are asking Congress to keep the funding at the same level it is now. Last week, the NIH budget which funds cancer research and other research was cut by one percent for this fiscal year. They fear bigger cuts will occur in September for the 2012 fiscal year.
