A local boy is headed to the nation’s capital to advocate for a bill aimed at promoting treatments for childhood cancer.
Kellan Tilton, 5, of Detroit, flew to Washington, D.C., for a two-day event on May 1-2 known as Childhood Cancer Action Days, the sixth annual event coordinated by the Alliance for Childhood Cancer which aims to bring people together to advocate for important childhood cancer issues currently before Congress. While there, Tilton will meet with representatives of U.S. Sen. Angus King, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Bruce Poliquin and Rep. Chellie Pingree to discuss the critical needs of childhood cancer survivors and to advocate for passage of the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access and Research (STAR) Act. This bill seeks to maximize discovery, and accelerate development and availability, of promising childhood cancer treatments.
Tilton was born with a large tumor in his spine and abdomen and was soon diagnosed with stage 3 neuroblastoma, intermediate risk with secondary paralysis. Tilton was left permanently paralyzed by the cancer, but is now stable and no longer being treated for neuroblastoma. He was treated at the Dana-Farber Medical Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital and the Maine Children’s Cancer Program.
The Alliance for Childhood Cancer is an organization that represents more than thirty national patient advocacy groups and professional medical and scientific organizations.
Tilton is one of the St. Baldrick’s Honored Kids that is attending Action Days. Honored Kids and their families work to inspire St. Baldrick’s Foundation supporters and volunteers by sharing their stories or being advocates to raise awareness for childhood cancer and the need for research funding. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.