Why Texas?

Hello from the bus, Survivor One. We are heading north on I-35 in Texas, with stops along the way to meet voters and promote Proposition 15, a ballot initiative aimed at making Texas the global leader in cancer research.

Our first stop this morning was Temple, Texas, where a cheering crowd of more than 200 doctors, nurses, patients and locals, greeted us at the Scott and White Cancer Research Institute. Dr. Al Knight, Scott and White CEO, welcomed us and Representatives Dianne White and Patrick Rose promoted Proposition 15. Dr. Roy Smythe, who is the director of surgery, said, “Texans are fighters!”

Texans are fighters. Specifically, 95,000 Texans fight cancer every year. About 37,000 Texans lose the battle. Beyond our borders, 1 and 2 men and 1 and 3 women experience cancer in the U.S. Globally, the numbers are overwhelming.

Given that this is a bona fide global problem that affects absolutely everyone, I have often been asked over the past few months, “Why here? Why should Texas take the lead?”

I looked at the crowd in Temple and thought, “Why not?” When I think about our research institutions, our cancer non-profits and our fighting tradition, I think this HAS to happen here — for the benefit of future Texans and people everywhere.

The great university in my hometown, the University of Texas, has a motto I’ll borrow — “What starts here changes the world.” If we pass Prop 15, that will be true again. We will start something that will change the expectations and experiences of cancer. We will start something that might stop cancer.

Onward to Granbury, Fort Worth and Dallas. I’ll report in along the way.