[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 149 (Friday, September 7, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H7924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNIZING CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

  (Mr. KNIGHT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Childhood Cancer 
Awareness Month, during which we pay a special tribute to the children 
who are now fighting or who have fought the number one disease killer 
and second leading cause of death of children in the United States.
  We also affirm our support for the families, their doctors and their 
nurses and the foundations that provide financial and emotional relief 
to those struggling with the tremendous stress of cancer treatment and 
rehabilitation.
  One group that is particularly close to me and my family is Jack's 
Angels. Jack's Angels fights for dedicated research for a particularly 
deadly kind of pediatric cancer, DIPG, the deadliest pediatric brain 
cancer.
  DIPG tumors are inoperable and incurable, and its victims have a 5-
year survival rate of less than 1 percent. The median survival time for 
children diagnosed with DIPG is only 9 months.
  In 2011, just after his third birthday, Jack Demeter was diagnosed 
with DIPG. He was given steroid medication, then radiation therapy, and 
was put on supplements and several tailored diets.
  He was brought into clinical trials. He tried infusions. His parents 
took him to dozens of doctors, each of whom provided their best advice 
and counsel. But the science for an effective treatment for DIPG has 
not yet been developed. Jack passed away only 9 months after diagnosis.
  For me and for Jack's Angels, finding a cure for DIPG and all other 
pediatric cancers will continue to be a priority.

                          ____________________