Contact Your Congressperson

The first annual Bladder Cancer Awareness Day will be on July 17, 2010. In honor of this special day, we ask that you reach out to your member of Congress by calling or emailing and asking that they support House Resolution 1445. This resolution would express Congress’ support for Bladder Cancer Awareness Day. Here is a PDF with the full text of the resolution.

Call your member of Congress

To find your member of Congress, please visit http://www.house.gov/ and insert your ZIP code in the upper left corner.

Once you have found the name of your Representative, please call
(202) 225-3121 and ask for the specific office of your Congressman or Congresswoman. (We are advised that it is too late for letters, as mail to Representatives takes 2 weeks, due to counter-terrorism measures.)

Here is an example of what you could say on the phone:

• Please connect me to Representative _____’s office
• I live in [your city or town]______, and I am calling to encourage Representative ______ to cosponsor House Resolution 1445, a resolution in support of recognizing Bladder Cancer Awareness Day
• I also ask that you encourage House Leadership – especially Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer – to bring this resolution to the floor of the House of Representatives before we honor this special day on July 17th.

Feel free to add a personal touch to your phone call. You may want to end by saying “Bladder cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer. I appreciate the Representative’s support for bladder cancer survivors and their loved ones.”

Email your member of Congress

You can often find an email address or contact form for your Representative on his or her web page.  Enter your zip code in the upper left corner at http://www.house.gov/ and click on the name of your Representative to go to his or her web page.

Here is an example of what your email could say:

Dear Representative ____,

As a resident of [your city or town]______ and your constituent, I am writing to request that you support House Resolution 1445, which expresses support for the designation of July 17, 2010, as `National Bladder Cancer Awareness Day’.

Bladder cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer, and is one of the most expensive cancers to treat.  In 2009, over 70,000 new cases of bladder cancer were diagnosed and over 14,000 people died of the disease.  Nearly 90 percent of people with bladder cancer are over the age of 55. Early detection is key, making national awareness all the more important.

Please encourage House Leadership to bring this resolution to the floor of the House of Representatives before we honor this special day on July 17th.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your City, State]

You can also personalize this email by explaining why this resolution is important to you.

Thank you for your help in raising awareness!

Bladder cancer has touched so many of our lives. It is imperative that we get the word out about this terrible disease. And this is one positive step you can take to help raise awareness of bladder cancer.