The mandatory cuts to federal spending set to take place March 1 could have a real impact on people in north Alabama with life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

As a cancer survivor, I hope that as Congress works to get the country's financial books in order, it protects the federal funding necessary to sustain the fight against the disease.

Federal funding has been at the core of virtually every major advancement against cancer. Sweeping cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the Prevention and Public Health Fund could jeopardize progress we have made in preventing, treating and curing the disease.

The federal funding available for cancer research and prevention programs has already been cut.

As a result, researchers in labs across the country have been shrinking their budgets and reducing staff. Promising grant proposals have been left unfunded. Patients have been turned away from clinical trials and fewer low-income, uninsured women have had access to lifesaving mammograms.

If across-the-board budget cuts are carried out in the coming weeks, the effects on patients here at home would be devastating.

I urge members of Congress to consider what's at stake for families impacted by cancer who might be counting on the next big breakthrough in treatment or relying on federally funded local programs for cancer screenings. Let's not jeopardize progress in the fight against cancer.

Belinda Johnson

Russellville