Floating down the Xingu River’s “Big Bend” in the Brazilian Amazon last November I was struck once again by the splendor of this unique environment. Its waters low for the dry season, the Xingu’s magnificent white sand beaches stretched for miles while rock islands emerged from the current, shrouded in verdant shrubs and trees. Mesmerized as always by the raw, primeval beauty of this place, I was shocked awake from my daydream by huge walls of earth, rock, concrete and steel rising imposingly before me. This is the aberration of Brazil’s Belo Monte dam: stagnant waters, leveled forests, shattered communities and the death knell of an Amazonian paradise.

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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.