Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma.

It’s not a term that any kid typically knows, or should ever have to learn first-hand. But when I turned 12 years old, that was my diagnosis — and it became a defining part of my life.

It’s a specific kind of liver cancer that affects children. It’s rare — you don’t see it in your average patient. So I knew, even then, that it would take something more than a generic treatment to cure this unique disease.

So I got to work. And thanks to incredible technological advances and the help of a community of scientists and fibrolamellar patients like me, I was able to identify the change in the DNA that leads to this kind of cancer. Rather than focusing broadly on all liver cancer, I examined a precise patient group — which allowed for such a precise discovery.

Today, I’m 19 years old, in college, and in remission.

There’s a name for the approach we used. It’s called “Precision Medicine” — an approach that uses data-driven treatments that are unique to your own body. It’s a proven way to treat more difficult diseases. And it’s a field of medicine the President’s 2016 budget is investing in.

Learn more about the President’s Precision Medicine initiative and why these tailored treatments are going to be more successful.

Think about it: If you need glasses, you aren’t assigned a generic pair. You get a prescription customized for your eyes. If you need a blood transfusion, you get one that matches your precise blood type. Treatments for diseases like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and diabetes should be no different.

Thanks to the Precision Medicine approach, my colleagues and I are developing the first diagnostics tests and new clinical trials for fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma. I showed the President our progress when I attended the White House Science Fair last year. And I was proud to stand with the President when he appealed to Congress to help medical professionals translate the success of Precision Medicine to a larger scale.

It will take all of us — patients, hospitals, industry, philanthropies, researchers, privacy experts, and congressional leaders — to take the lead in the future of medicine. The President’s budget investments in Precision Medicine is the first place to start.

Learn more about this exciting initiative and then share the news with your friends and families.

Because this new way of looking at care — and cures — could change your life. It certainly changed mine.

Thanks for listening,

Elana

Elana Simon
Cambridge, Massachusetts

President Obama and the FCC have taken a stand to protect the Internet’s future, but the cable companies are spending millions to block them and turn this into a partisan issue. We have days to show Congress that the public fully supports Obama’s call — click now to keep the Internet free and equal:

Ten people who wrote the President about their health care were invited to the White House this week. See what they said to the President, and read their personal stories here.

When the Health Insurance Marketplace opened last year, Ann from Westport, Connecticut found that she qualified for Medicaid in her state. That coverage finally gave her the opportunity to see a doctor — and catch her breast cancer early on.

Don from Phoenix, Arizona signed up for health insurance last year under the Affordable Care Act and had a general checkup soon after. After getting a routine colonoscopy, however, doctors found a large, cancerous tumor. Now it’s gone, and Don is cancer-free.

As House Republicans keep trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act — this week marked more than 50 times they’ve voted to repeal or undermine it — the law continues to help and save the lives of millions of Americans. A number of them have written the President just to say “thank you,” and on Wednesday, the President met with 10 of those letter-writers here at the White House.

Unfortunately, there are still millions of uninsured Americans who don’t know why it’s so important to get covered, or how they stand to benefit. And it’s on each and every one of us to change that.

If you know someone who needs to get health insurance, share these stories with them today — and remind them that the deadline to sign up for health insurance is February 15.

By CAP Action War Room

A Great Jobs Report In The Headlines, And Important Education News Under The Fold

Friday brought some very good news for Americans in the workforce, and for those who haven’t yet entered it (students!).

The January jobs report added more evidence that the U.S. economy continues to get stronger, not just for those at the very top but also for the middle-class and those looking to get into the middle-class. Headlines from major news outlets delivered the message loud and clear:

• New York Times: This Is a Great Jobs Report Across the Board
• Bloomberg: Job Report Crushes It
• Los Angeles Times: Best Wage Growth In Six Years
• Wall Street Journal: January Jobs Report…Cast[s] Rosier Glow on 2014
• The New Republic: The Recovery Is Finally Happening for Ordinary Americans
• CNBC: Jobs Report Leaves GOP Grasping For Ammo

A different event garnered far fewer headlines, but represents another important victory. This time, its not for those who are in the workforce now, but for those who rely on quality education to hopefully one join it.

Today, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the lead Republican on the Senate Committee with jurisdiction over the nation’s education policy, reneged on his attempt to push through a partisan bill to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind. In a joint statement with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Committee, Alexander agreed to scrap his bill and move forward to develop a bipartisan starting point for the Committee to consider.

Just one month ago, Alexander put forward an aggressive timeline to have a bill on the Senate floor by the end of this month. But as education experts, including our colleagues at CAP, dug into the that bill, they found that it included a number of troubling provisions. Among other things, it would divert funding away from students living in the poorest communities who need it the most; fail teachers, parents, and students with disabilities; and rollback the federal government’s role in ensuring an equitable education for all students no matter their background, zip code, or income level.

A CAP report released this week demonstrated how communities with concentrations of poverty could lose federal funding to wealthier school districts under Alexander’s original proposal. For example, Chicago could lose more than $64 million, while the much more affluent suburb of Naperville could see its allocations increase. In Los Angeles Unified School District, students could lose out on more than $75 million, while Beverly Hills could gain.

BOTTOM LINE: In 1965, the original goal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was to ensure low-income students have a chance of success. After initially introducing a plan that could have done the opposite, GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander has pulled back and announced a more bipartisan process. That is a very important step in making sure that our nation’s education policy improves to ensure student success in an equitable way.