Organizers of The March: Coming Together to Conquer Cancer estimated that at least 150,000 people attended a noon rally on Sept. 26 in Washington, DC, the main event in a two–day extravaganza designed to draw national attention to the need for greater funding for cancer research and wider access to quality cancer care. 

That the event even took place at all, considering the disparate organizations that had to set aside their differences and work together over the past year, was an achievement worth noting. That The March came off with hardly a glitch and attracted as many people as can be seated at the Rose Bowl and Oriole Park at Camden Yards combined, astounded many activists.

The 150,000 estimate was based on the number of brochures that March volunteers handed out to people attending the rally on the National Mall. The March printed 200,000 brochures, organizers said.

Events in conjunction with The March took place all over the U.S., in every state capital, and at NCI-funded cancer centers. Attendance figures for all the events were not available this week.

“Because it was so tenuous from its beginning, we didn’t set our expectations high, but it so surpassed our expectations,” said Ellen Stovall, who served as president of The March.

“We thought a march about cancer might be too painful for a lot of people,” Stovall said earlier this week to The Cancer Letter. “It just shows that sometimes out of tremendous pain comes the best.

“It was worth fighting for. It was worth it.”

What is next for The March as an organization is unclear. On Sept. 27, Sidney Kimmel, chairman of Jones Apparel Group and sponsor of The March, became chairman of The March board. At the same time, Michael Milken, founder of the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate, became chairman of the executive committee. The March board was dissolved on Sept. 30.

From Congressional Visits To Candlelight Vigil

Many cancer researchers and patient advocates used the trip to Washington to visit their members of Congress on Friday, Sept. 25. The March organizers invited members to pin a star on their state on a large map of the U.S. to demonstrate their support for cancer research.

The March Research Task Force called on Congress to increase appropriations for NCI to $10 billion in five years, starting by doubling the Institute’s current budget and increasing by 20 percent per year over the subsequent four years. The full report of the task force is scheduled to be released later this month.

“It is time to make cancer our highest national healthcare priority and undertake a national initiative that will mark the beginning of the end of cancer,” Anna Barker, co-chairman of the task force, said to a hearing of the Senate Cancer Coalition, led by Sen. Connie Mack (R-FL) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D CA).

“Some will say that this price tag is too high,” Barker said. “We say the price tag of failure is much higher.”

Other organizations issued policy statements or held press conferences and meetings, including:

  • The Intercultural Cancer Council, an advocacy group concerned about cancer among minorities, urged Congress to adopt funding priorities targeting the needs of minorities and the medically underserved.
  • The American Society for Clinical Oncology called for increasing the NCI budget by 35 percent next year to reach the $3.19 billion specified in the Institute’s fiscal 1999 Bypass Budget. ASCO also urged Congress to pass legislation to require Medicare to reimburse patient costs associated with participation in clinical trials, and legislation to ensure that patients have direct access to cancer specialists.
  • The National Prostate Cancer Coalition delivered more than 500,000 petitions to Congress urging increased funding for prostate cancer research.
  • The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, a coalition formed last year, held its first advocacy conference.

Friday evening, an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 people gathered around the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial for a candlelight vigil.

“Dreamers will not surrender to cancer,” said Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the speakers at the vigil. “We will out-dream, out-work, out-research, out fight. We will conquer cancer. Because our minds are made up.”

“To stand there and see Lincoln looking down on us was very satisfying,” Stovall said. “It allowed people to heal.” The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship plans to hold a candlelight vigil next year, on Sept. 25, 1999, said Stovall, executive director of the coalition.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, The March events began at 9 a.m. and continued to 5 p.m. At tables set up under tents on the Mall, cancer patient organizations handed out literature and discussed their work.

In a large tent, panels of cancer researchers fielded questions about their work from audiences at two sessions during the day. In other area, people pinned messages about themselves or their family members with cancer to a “Wall of Courage.” Sections of a quilt made by and for children who had cancer or who had died of cancer were displayed on the grass.

At the noon rally, the speeches of cancer survivors, celebrities, and politicians were interspersed with performances by the “Queen of Soul,” singer Aretha Franklin, and musicians David Crosby and Graham Nash. The singer Michael Bolton, canceled at the last minute due to illness. But other speakers were added, including Queen Noor of Jordan, whose husband King Hussein is receiving cancer treatment in the U.S.

“The ‘coming together’ part was there,” Stovall said. “Everyone who got up to the microphone made such a contribution. It was also the most diverse event I’ve ever been to in this city. It was beautiful. It was so eclectic.”

The March As Metaphor

In the days immediately following The March, the organizers and other participants declared the event a success in bringing many organizations together to focus national attention on cancer research and care.

“I thought The March was very moving, incredibly moving,” NCI Director Richard Klausner said to The Cancer Letter. “The March achieved a sense of community and of a commonness of purpose, and most importantly, a commonness of language, in our approach to cancer and the needs of the community. I hope that continues.”

Some speakers made use of The March as a metaphor:

  • “When you march, you show resolve,” Jackson said at the candlelight vigil. “When you march, you are on your feet, showing determination. When you march, there’s power in the pitter-patter of our marching feet. When we march, Moses found that seas part and get out of your way. Joshua found that walls of Jericho come tumbling down.”
  • “When they say Americans will never come together across the lines that divided us in the past and demand a cure, we say, “Yes, we can!”” Vice President Al Gore said. “Working together, marching together, fighting together, I know that we will.”

What’s Next?

A year ago, organizers of The March said they hoped a grassroots network would remain in place after the marchers folded their signs and dismantled the tents (The Cancer Letter, Oct. 31, 1997).

Almost as soon as the event was over, the entreaty to the coalition of groups to “stay together” began.
“What a remarkable two days,” Richard Atkins, who served as chairman of the board of The March until Sept. 27, said at a dinner for the board following the rally. “From Alaska to Alabama, from the Queen of Jordan to the Queen of Soul.’ It is the beginning of the end and we will preside over the end if we have the will to do so.”

“You’ve come together. Don’t fall apart,” retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, honorary chairman of The March, said at the dinner. “It takes commitment. Think of a ham-and-egg breakfast. Now, the chicken is involved. But the pig is committed.”

“The March’s legacy can be manifold if the multiple communities that are part of this overall commitment to cancer research and access to care stay together,” Klausner said to The Cancer Letter.

The March should move from event planning to advocacy, Stovall said. “We shouldn’t be talking about the next event,” Stovall said. “We had the march that will make the change. Now we need to implement it. That’s going to take our energy for a long time.”