The main office of the U.S. Postal Service in Omaha will host a rally starting at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 5, to welcome the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope™, a cycling journey across America to invigorate the public about the importance of cancer research. Team members will share personal stories and motivate the community to learn more about the promise of cancer research. The event is open to the public and cancer survivors are especially encouraged to attend.
The Tour of Hope Team’s 20 cyclists – cancer survivors, physicians, nurses, caregivers, researchers, and loved ones – will relay 3,500 miles for this extraordinary eight-day journey from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. The team left Los Angeles on Friday, Oct. 1, and will be joined by cancer survivor and six-time Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong, at points along the way before being welcomed in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Oct. 9. Their goal is to inspire and inform the public in cities along the way about the importance of cancer research.
On Tuesday, Oct. 5, the team will transfer the baton from one cycling team to another during the Omaha rally at the main office of the U.S. Postal Service, 1124 Pacific St.. During the 6:30 p.m. rally, Byers ‘Bud’ Shaw Jr., M.D., professor and chairman of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Department of Surgery and cancer survivor, will provide remarks, along with Omaha attorney Jim Cavanagh, who was treated for lymphoma at UNMC five years ago. Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey and Omaha Postmaster EvaJon Sperling also will address the crowd.
“Research is the foundation for all medicine, but it’s especially important for cancer patients,” said Dr. Shaw, an avid cyclist who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on July 25, 2002. “For cancer patients, research means hope and the possibility of more effective treatment modalities. This is a great opportunity to make people more aware of cancer research and the difference it can make in people’s lives.”
Over 60 percent of children with cancer are enrolled in cancer clinical trials, compared to just 5 percent of adults with cancer. Clinical trials have helped increase the cure rate in childhood cancer from 10 to 75 percent in the past three decades.
Without clinical trials, no medicines would be available to treat cancer. Every approach to cancer screening and detection and every cancer treatment available today has come from clinical trials.
“The value of clinical trials is huge,” said Cavanagh, a partner in the Omaha law firm of Lieben, Whitted, Houghton, Slowiaczek and Cavanagh. “It amazes me what’s being done in the field. I would participate in clinical trials anytime, if the medical providers thought there was any potential of learning about this disease and how to manage it better or cure it.”