MESA, Ariz. — It's hard to overstate how strongly we feel the pain of cancer. Almost everyone knows someone who has been diagnosed.
"Cancer has touched almost everyone's life. Whether it's a friend, a parent a loved one or yourself," said Danny Efron of Mesa. “I am a two-time brain cancer survivor.”
Efron's story is an incredible one, but he's not alone. He and hundreds of other survivors with the American Cancer Society (ACS) will be traveling to Washington D.C. to share their stories with lawmakers.
They hope to help secure more money and more resources to search for a cure for cancer.
In 2022, an estimated two million new cancer cases were diagnosed in the United States, according to the ACS.
Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death in Americans -- more than 605,000 people in the United States died from the illness in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The illness has had a profound impact on Efron's life. At age 26, he lost his grandmother to cancer. His father and his mother also died from cancer.
“My mom had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She caught it too late. She passed away two weeks after her diagnosis. It would’ve been great to have that for her,” Efron says.
And in the midst of that, Efron was diagnosed as well. Doctors found cancer growing in his brain.
“My mother died from pancreatic cancer one day before my first brain surgery in 2015. It was tough getting through that without my best friend," he said.
After his first surgery doctors gave him two to five years to live. He remained cancer free for seven years until 2022.
“Unfortunately, cancer came back with an unexpected ferocity and affected me a lot worse than the first time."
This time, Efron was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma. It's the most aggressive form of brain cancer, and the kind that claimed the lives of figures like John McCain and Beau Biden.
Efron underwent surgery a second time. After the tumor was removed doctors used a new treatment that places small tiles inside the brain where the tumor was removed to provide radiation.
After the treatment he suffered a stroke that left him blind for three months. But despite that, the cancer treatments have proven effective.
“There’s no sign of new tumor growth and my bloodwork is looking good, so I have defeated brain cancer twice.”
>> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.
It’s a medical breakthrough he said was made possible with federal research funding.
“Every significant breakthrough has come from this funding to the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Health,” said Efron.
“In 2020 we received $3.3 billion in cancer research so we’re looking for something upward around that,” he added.
In addition to funding, the group will also push Congress to make early cancer screenings more readily available for Americans.
He says every dollar in funding passed by Congress is one step closer to finding a cure, saving lives, and helping save money through preventative care.
Efron hopes his journey will allow lawmakers to see firsthand the power of the research and the impact cancer research is having on many lives.
“You can’t overfund for research of a disease that has impacted so many lives around the world.”
Efron plans to begin his trip to DC this Sunday. You can follow along and track his journey on his YouTube page. If you want to support the ACS's search for a cure, you can make a donation at donate.cancer.org.
Up to Speed
Catch up on the latest news and stories on our 12News YouTube playlist here.