Cancer Research Capital :: Texas
Governor of Texas Rick Perry joined Lance Armstrong and representatives from cancer research institutes across the state to talk it over this week. It is believed that the September cancer death of former Gov. Ann Richards spawned the effort.
lans call for Texas to invest $3 billion over the next decade in a bid to eradicate the disease that kills more than half a million Americans every year.
“The disease is just too devastating; it affects every single one of us,” said Armstrong, who battled testicular cancer before winning the Tour de France seven years in a row. “We need to make sure that some time in our lives we put an end to it.”
“I can’t think of anything that I think is more worthwhile, anything that will make Texas more the epicenter of an extraordinary focus worldwide in this effort,” Perry said. “This is a powerful moment in Texas history.”
Two high-profile Republican lawmakers, Rep. Jim Keffer of Eastland and Sen. Jane Nelson of Lewisville, have agreed to sponsor legislation creating the fund. They still have to determine how it would be structured and where the money would come from. One option would involve borrowing against bonds to produce $300 million a year for research.