Thoughts on the Moonshot

Back in October, Vice President Joe Biden announced his Cancer Moonshot; how he was going to meet with researchers and encourage collaboration in order to accelerate findings of cancer cures. Biden has been spurred on since the death of his son, Beau, to a brain tumor. Part of this initiative is to attempt to get a decade’s worth of research development within a 5 year period. Many people have taken exception to VP Biden calling for a Moonshot as they feel this conveys a false pretext as research results don’t result in large leaps in knowledge, but often small increments.

As a cancer survivor, I love that Biden called it a Cancer Moonshot.  The word moonshot conjures the image of President John F. Kennedy standing at Rice University inspiring the country with the importance of space exploration. When I heard Biden call it a Cancer Moonshot, I could hear JFK in his Boston accent say

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”

Curing cancer would be incredibly hard. Doing 10 years of research development in 5 years would be hard. But, these are initiatives that we must take on, that we must work towards and needs collaborative effort. That is why I love that VP Biden called it a moonshot.

As a cancer survivor, I feel that my role in the cancer moonshot is to continue to enroll in trials, send my blood and tumor out for study and support the research effort by continuing for follow up with the PRESENT trial.

Part of the biggest initiative in the cancer moonshot is the development of immunotherapy-using the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. This is part the reason why I was so drawn to the PRESENT trial.My friends at The Mesothelioma + Asbestos Awareness Center sent along a great infographic that explains the moonshot and immunotherapy beautifully. If you want to learn more about the rare cancer they raise awareness for, head on over to their mesothelioma page here.

Thank you Mr. Vice President for starting the Cancer Moonshot. Thank you for choosing to do what is hard. I am one inspired American and will continue to participate in the PRESENT trial and hope that vaccines and the use of immunotherapy will become the standard in the fight against cancer.