Let’s bridge the gap between patients with blood cancers and life-saving solutions | Column

Imagine for a moment every resident of Hillsborough County, Florida — including children — had blood cancer. All 1.5 million of them.

While the number might seem too big to believe, that is approximately how many of our fellow Americans are currently fighting blood cancer or living in remission. Every three minutes, another joins them with a new diagnosis.

Blood cancer knows no gender, race, religion, tax bracket or creed. We don’t know what causes it or why it strikes who it does. About 14,000 Floridians will receive a new blood cancer diagnosis this year, including lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia, the most common cancer for children younger than 15.

Just like that, thousands of Floridians will find themselves fighting for their lives. It’s our responsibility in government to fight alongside them.

The laws we create impact individual families on a direct and profound level. As I’ve practiced family law over the years, I’ve watched families navigate life-changing challenges. I’ve seen firsthand the many ways the government can either be a bridge to solutions for families or a barrier.

My colleagues in government and I have the collective authority required to bridge Florida patients with life-saving solutions, and we’ve already started doing so.

We’ve passed laws allowing greater access to licensed therapists and counselors in moments of crisis and that empower families to intervene and help loved ones who can’t help themselves. We’ve also written legislation ensuring students have the medication they need to safely recover from an asthma attack at school.

In all these ways and more, we’ve fought for access to critical health resources for our constituents, and blood cancer should be no different. There is perhaps no greater fight that our constituents need solutions for than this – the fight for their lives.

We must do our part to ensure that blood cancer patients across the Sunshine State have access to early interventions and life-saving solutions and that we are clearing that path for preventative medicine and research so that more in our communities do not fall victim to this horrific disease.

This Blood Cancer Awareness Month, let’s continue the fight by supporting statewide awareness efforts giving families the knowledge needed for early diagnosis.

We can also support the research and development of innovative treatment options, giving patients the best possible chance of living in remission. Our country leads the world in medical innovation and is at the forefront of discovery in gene therapies, immunotherapy, precision medicine, and more.

Supporting medical progress in these areas is a matter of public health. Blood cancer is common and deadly, but there is incredible potential to beat this disease back. We in government must ask ourselves: Are we acting as a bridge to progress or as a barrier?

As a family advocate, member of the Health and Human Services Committee, Chair of the Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee, and a mother of two, I choose to be a bridge. It is my sincere hope my colleagues join me.

Rep. Traci Koster, a Republican, serves Florida’s 66th District. A family law attorney, she serves on the Health and Human Services Committee and chairs the Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee.