On Tuesday evening, Congresswoman Susan W. Brooks (R-Ind.-05) welcomed Carmel residents, Mike and Lee Corr as her guests to the President’s State of the Union Address.
On Tuesday, which was also World Cancer Day, Rep. Brooks spoke with Mark and Lee Corr on Tuesday prior to the State of the Union. Click here to watch that video. (Photo provided)
Mike Corr, who was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia in 2002, became a patient in clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2010. Hairy cell leukemia, which affects over 1,200 individuals annually, is a slow-growing cancer of the blood in which one’s bone marrow makes too many B cells. Hairy cell leukemia is considered a chronic disease because it may never completely disappear. Mike is currently patient No. 13 in a small clinical study with the National Institutes of Health. After battling hairy cell leukemia for 17 years and joining the NIH study, Mike is now in ongoing remission.
“Throughout Mike’s long, difficult battle with hairy cell leukemia, he was finally able to gain hope after joining clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH),” said Brooks. “It is because of our government’s increased investments in biomedical research at the NIH, Mike is able to continue being a loving son, father, husband, and a managing director for one of the world leaders in real estate services at JLL. In my role as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, we worked hard to pass the 21st Century Cures Act into law to provide an extra $8.75 billion to the National Health Institute to help individuals like Mike be a part of finding cures for diseases like leukemia. I am honored to have Mike and Lee Corr as my constituent guests for the State of the Union this evening, because they exemplify hope, positivity, and deep faith and love of family and friends. They serve as strong Americans and role models for all who are suffering with difficult diseases.”
“A cancer diagnosis changes your life and perspective in an instant,” said Corr. “Thankfully for me, I was accepted into a Phase II clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I was patient number 45 in a successful immunotoxin treatment that required my wife and me to fly to the NIH once a month for 10-day hospital stays. This breakthrough allowed me a partial remission for five additional years until 2015, when I was readmitted to NIH as patient number 13 in a gene inhibitor trial. Currently I am on this treatment protocol, but for the first time in the 17 years since diagnosis I am able to say I am cancer free. I owe this to the great research teams, clinical trial participants, the tireless work of the staff at NIH, our country’s investment in innovation, and the immeasurable research that provides immense hope to families like mine.”
Background
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) support a wide variety of biomedical research, advancing knowledge of health and disease. It was founded in the late 1870s and is now part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
NIH is an integral part of a biomedical research ecosystem that includes universities, researchers, private companies and other government agencies. It is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, investing more than $39 billion each year to achieve its mission to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.
The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) was signed into law on Dec. 13, 2016 and was designed to help accelerate medical product development and bring new innovations and advances to patients who need them faster and more efficiently.
The Cures Act enhanced NIH’s ability to modernize clinical trials, by increasing the use of real-world evidence and clinical outcome assessments, which will speed the development and review of novel medical products, including medical countermeasures.
The Cures Act also allowed the FDA to create more intercenter institutes and reauthorized the NIH, resulting in more coordination activities for major disease areas including drug, biologics and device centers, and improved the regulation of combination products.