Clyde cancer case goes to DC

Parents of child who died of cancer talk to Sen. Sherrod Brown

There's an update to the story about the alleged childhood cancer cluster in Clyde. The parents of a girl who died in August are taking their cause to Capitol Hill.

State investigators say they still don't know the reason behind an unusual number of childhood cancer cases in the Clyde area. Now, one family is turning to Washington DC for help.

Warren Brown and his wife Wendy met with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and Congressman Bob Latta in their DC offices Wednesday. They lost their 11-year-old daughter Alexa to cancer in August.

Before she died, her dad made her a promise. "As she lay in bed, I know she heard me, but couldn't respond. But I told her I couldn't rest until the federal government paid as much money to pediatric cancer research as they do all other cancers they dedicate money to."

The Browns are meeting with lawmakers, specifically ones that sit on the powerful appropriations committee, to convince them to release millions in funding for childhood cancer research. Alexa's dad complained that only four percent of the National Cancer Institute's budget is dedicated to pediatric cancer.

Sen. Sherrod Brown says, "There are so many demands and so many opinions and so many groups that are asking for help and it takes somebody like Wendy and Warren on behalf of Alexa Brown to really humanize it and say 'This is somebody we know, our daughter, and it affects others so dramatically'."

Alexa's parents also met with Congressman Bob Latta who said, "We've got to start now, not later, because everytime we wait it takes that much more time to find a cure."

The bill to release up to $30 million for research is sitting in the appropriations committee. Senator Brown says it still has a way to go. He says the timeline for its passage is dictated by the health care bill, which he says slows other things down.

Alexa's dad talked legislative strategy with the legislators and says he's hearing some movement has already been made. "It came out of the blue that this was being seriously looked at. Last week we thought it might be a dead issue."

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