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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives wish to recognize Megan Bugg of Coal City; and
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| 4 | WHEREAS, Megan Bugg has been diagnosed with Alveolar | ||||||
| 5 | Rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS), a very aggressive form of soft tissue | ||||||
| 6 | childhood cancer, and she has been fighting stage four ARMS for | ||||||
| 7 | the past three years; during those three years, Megan has | ||||||
| 8 | undergone 90 weeks of intense chemotherapy, over 100 radiation | ||||||
| 9 | treatments, three surgeries, and the numerous side effects of | ||||||
| 10 | treatment; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, Megan Bugg recently experienced a relapse for the | ||||||
| 12 | third time; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, Despite this, Megan Bugg connected with other | ||||||
| 14 | childhood cancer victims from across the United States and the | ||||||
| 15 | world; she has become an advocate for children fighting cancer | ||||||
| 16 | and has raised over $60,000 to support research currently being | ||||||
| 17 | pursued by Dr. Walterhouse at Lurie Children's Hospital in | ||||||
| 18 | Chicago; if she qualifies for a clinical trial, she will | ||||||
| 19 | undergo a new treatment by Dr. Walterhouse that she has played | ||||||
| 20 | a large role in funding; and
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| 21 | WHEREAS, As part of her fight, Megan Bugg has brought | ||||||
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| 1 | awareness to some key statistics on government funding for | ||||||
| 2 | childhood cancer; the National Cancer Institute's budget in | ||||||
| 3 | 2015 was $4.93 billion and only $198 million of that was | ||||||
| 4 | dedicated to childhood cancer research; the Federal Government | ||||||
| 5 | spends $437 million annually on military bands, but only $198 | ||||||
| 6 | million on childhood cancer research; since 2003, the National | ||||||
| 7 | Institute of Health's budget has been cut by 15.5 percent after | ||||||
| 8 | inflation; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, 3,468 children die each year from childhood | ||||||
| 10 | cancer, and every day, 43 children in the United States are | ||||||
| 11 | diagnosed with cancer; the average age of those diagnosed is | ||||||
| 12 | six; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, Megan Bugg continues to fight for increased | ||||||
| 14 | funding for research for childhood cancer, and her efforts can | ||||||
| 15 | be followed by searching Facebook for "Team Megan Bugg"; | ||||||
| 16 | therefore, be it
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| 17 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 18 | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 19 | pledge to join with Megan Bugg in bringing increased visibility | ||||||
| 20 | to the often-hidden epidemic of childhood cancer; and be it | ||||||
| 21 | further
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| 22 | RESOLVED, That we urge United States Senator Dick Durbin, | ||||||
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| 1 | United States Senator Tammy Duckworth, and all members of the | ||||||
| 2 | Illinois Congressional Delegation to allocate additional | ||||||
| 3 | funding and resources for childhood cancer research and | ||||||
| 4 | clinical trials; and be it further
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| 5 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 6 | presented to Megan Bugg as an expression of our admiration, | ||||||
| 7 | respect, and support.
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