Cody Residents Lobby for Cancer Research

Three Cody residents are representing Wyoming this week in Washington DC, as they lobby Congress to support the fight against cancer.
Shawna Little, Michelle Lemmon and Dawn Scott join nearly 700 cancer patients, survivors and advocates from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district in Washington, D.C. through Wednesday for the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.
The three women have all been personally impacted by cancer. Little, a mother of two and the lead volunteer for ACS CAN in Wyoming, lost her young husband to cancer in 2005, and then recently lost her father to lung cancer. She says her goal in attending the Summit is to make sure legislators understand the impact that cancer has on Wyoming residents.

Little’s companions in Washington also have been impacted by cancer. Lemmon lost her sister to pancreatic cancer and her father-in-law to liver cancer. Their staff partner, ACS CAN grassroots manager Dawn Scott, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer during her junior year of college and given just six months to live. Thanks to treatment and research advances, she is thriving today.
While in D.C., the women will share their personal stories with Senators John Barrasso and Mike Enzi and Representative Liz Cheney and urge them to increase federal funding for cancer research, and to support legislation that will increase access to colonoscopy screenings for seniors on Medicare.