Tifton cancer survivor Lee Turner taking advocacy to Washington, D.C.

TIFTON — Later this month, more than 700 cancer patients, survivors, volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district will unite in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.

Among them will be Lee Turner, of Tifton, a two-time cancer survivor who has volunteered with the ACS since 1998. He also has lost his mother to brain cancer and a grandmother to lung cancer.

Turner is Georgia’s State Lead Ambassador for ACS CAN and represents the Eighth Congressional District for the organization. As the lead ambassador, he will lead a delegation of 12 volunteers from across the state to the three-day event, which takes place Sept. 11-13.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Turner said. “This is my 10th year going to Lobby Day.”

Advocates will ask Congress to take specific steps to make cancer a national priority and help end a disease that still kills 1,650 people a day nationwide. Turner will meet with members of the Georgia congressional delegation to discuss the need to support an increase in federal funding for cancer research.

He will also ask them to co-sponsor legislation that supports patients’ quality of life and to support legislation that would close a loophole in Medicare that often results in surprise costs for seniors when a polyp is found during a routine colonoscopy.

Turner said without such efforts there is no hope in continuing the progress of looking for a cure for cancer. He has set his sights on advocating for that cure. While there is much on the forefront that looks promising, he said, there is a long way to go.

“I wish that everyone could be chosen to represent,” he said. “I’m going to keep doing it until there is a cure. I’m in it for the long run.”

Storm Goodlin, ACS CAN grassroots manger in Georgia, said there is a need for there to be a voice for the 400,000 cancer survivors in the state. Meanwhile, there are 48,000 new cancer cases expected in the state this year, motivating a continuing effort to advocate for research.

“Those numbers should set off alarm bells in Georgia, much less in the U.S.,” he said.

Goodlin said the goal is to make cancer a thing of the past, and that Turner is an ideal person to lead Georgia in the fight.

“Lee is one of our most powerful advocates,” he said. “Lee is the most dedicated (individual) I have seen not just to this cause, but to any. He can rally a team like no other.

“I have all the faith in the world (in Turner).”

Cancer is a universal topic in that is difficult to find someone who has not been touched in some way. Reducing the burden that cancer causes for everyone, not just those directly suffering, will take everyone with an interest eliminating it, Goodlin said.

“It is one of the most recognized and most deadly epidemics,” he said.

Turner is the 2016 recipient ACT Lead of the Year award. During his time in Washington, he will be taking part in a luminary ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial on Sept. 12.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the ACS, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. It works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority.

Turner said he is hoping to take 400 bags from his region with him for the luminary ceremony. He is asking the public to contact him at (229) 848-6123 before Sept. 10 if they wish to honor someone with a luminary bag.

For more information, visit www.acscan.org.