March 11, 2009
Contact: Layli Whyte / (732) 933-1591Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-12), Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12)
The untimely and tragic death of an Oceanport girl is the inspiration for a joint resolution sponsored by Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon that designates the month of May as “Brain Tumor Awareness Month”. It was recently approved by the full State Senate and now awaits Governor Jon Corzine’s signature.
“Too often people with serious illnesses suffer in silence due to lack of public awareness and information,” said O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth/Mercer. “For anyone diagnosed with a brain or spinal cord tumor, finding a support network is crucial. It’s helpful to connect with others who have either survived this disease, who are currently waging their own battle or who know someone who has. It’s important that we, as legislators, take up this mantle and do whatever we can to increase public awareness.”
“As you can imagine,” said Beck, also R-Monmouth/Mercer, “a diagnosis of a brain tumor can be a devastating and overwhelming matter for the individual and his or her family. Each year, nearly 17,000 malignant brain tumors or spinal cord tumors are diagnosed throughout the U.S. It is our hope that this resolution will go a long way in promoting public awareness of this disease and I would urge Governor Corzine to sign it immediately.”
This resolution was created in response to the work of the Kortney Rose Foundation, a nonprofit founded after the April 27, 2006 death of nine year-old Kortney Rose Gillette by her parents, Kristen and Rich Gillette.
“My husband and I are just so grateful to Senator Beck and Assemblyman O’Scanlon for their work to designate May as Brain Tumor Awareness Month,” said Kristen Gillette. “Awareness of this disease, and all that it can take from you, is such an important message to get out to the public.”
Brain tumors are the number one cancer-related cause of death among children, surpassing, even, Leukemia. About 20 percent of the 17,000 malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord diagnosed each year will be diagnosed with a primary brain tumor. The majority will be found to have metastatic brain tumors. While primary tumors tend to stay in the brain, metastatic brain tumors begin as a cancer elsewhere in the body and spread to the brain.
Fellow 12th District Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande added, “Years ago, we heard very little about breast cancer, but today, thanks to an aggressive public awareness campaign, the issue has burst out onto the national stage. Countless numbers of lives have been saved and afflicted women no longer have to carry the burden of a diagnosis alone. Hopefully, this resolution will help bring the plight of those suffering with brain tumors to the forefront of the public health discussion.”
Beck sponsored the Senate version of the bill, SJR-56, while in the Assembly, O’Scanlon sponsored AJR-92, which received full Assembly approval in September 2008.
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