[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 70 (Tuesday, May 11, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT ESOPHAGEAL CANCER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BILL POSEY

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 11, 2010

  Mr. POSEY. Madam Speaker, several weeks ago, I received a call from 
one of my constituents, Marsha Shapiro. She courageously shared with me 
her experience with her husband Joel's battle with esophageal cancer. 
Marsha was kind enough to tell me a little about her husband and the 
type of man he was. She told me that for 30 years Joel worked as a New 
York City public school teacher at P.S.176 in Brooklyn. He also spent 
16 years as an English high school principal at Yeshiva of Brooklyn, a 
position he held in conjunction with his public school duties.
  She said that Joel was a humble man, but to his family and his 
students, he was a giant. For several summers he worked at the Italian 
Federation in an athletic program sponsoring Say No To Drugs. Music was 
also a very important part of his life having been a violinist in the 
Brooklyn Heights Orchestra and at St. Ann's Church. Furthermore, he 
performed with the Staten Island Orchestra at St. John's University and 
Kingsborough Community Orchestra Brooklyn, NY.
  Mrs. Shapiro shared with me how Joel's battle with esophageal cancer 
began on May 15, 2009. Over the course of the next several months he 
received the recognized chemo and radiation treatments but 
unfortunately they did not shrink his tumor. On November 18, 2009, 
after just 6 months and 3 days of treatment, Joel passed away. He is 
survived by his wife Marsha, two sons Adam and Glenn and three 
grandchildren, Jonathan, Naomi and Zachary.
  My colleagues, sadly, Joel's battle with esophageal cancer is not out 
of the ordinary. Unfortunately, it is too often the norm. The five-year 
survival rate for those diagnosed with esophageal cancer is less than 
20 percent and many, like Mr. Shapiro, die within a year of being 
diagnosed. The American Cancer Society estimates that this year alone 
more than 16,000 new cases of esophageal cancer will be diagnosed in 
the United States and nearly 14,500 deaths from esophageal cancer will 
occur.
  In fact, the rates of esophageal cancer have been rising dramatically 
for the past several decades, increasing by more than 400 percent, and 
there is still a lack of effective treatments for cancer of the 
esophagus. With such a significant increase in the number of cases and 
with a mortality rate of nearly 80 percent, too often those diagnosed 
with esophageal cancer are diagnosed too late and the disease has 
progressed too much for current treatments to be effective.
  I encourage my colleagues to join with me, and my colleague 
Congressman Rush Holt, in sponsoring a bipartisan resolution 
recognizing the importance of detecting esophageal cancer during its 
earliest stages, advancing medical research, and supporting the goals 
and ideals of Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month.

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