When my daughter was six years old, she came home from school and said, “Daddy, I don't want you to die.” I was 45 years old, months into chemotherapy for lymphoma and she was getting used to seeing “Daddy resting” in bed. Until then, I'd been laser-focused, fighting my battle with stage 3 cancer with my head down.
The next day, I forced myself out of bed, gripped the banister on the staircase and made it to the front door before she walked in from school. I wanted to greet her the way I used to, the way I hadn't been able to in months. The joy in her eyes was all the reason I needed. That 10-minute conversation cost me the rest of the day in bed, but it was worth every minute.
This November, we can help more families facing cancer and other debilitating diseases by voting Yes on Proposition 38, the Immunology Medical Research & Cures Initiative.
Prop 38 will fund immunology research to cure and prevent cancer, Alzheimer's and heart disease at California's nonprofit universities and research institutions.
Before my diagnosis, I'd been a college athlete and a cyclist, always moving. For months I ignored my symptoms. When the scan came back, my doctor told me, “Great news, it's lymphoma.” How was that great news? Because of medical research conducted years before my diagnosis, new treatment options were now available.
Immunotherapy saved my life, and my cancer has been in remission for a decade.
I see my oncologist every six months, and I'm the annoying guy checking recovery scores on his phone. I set a goal of a 100-mile bike ride. It took three years, but in 2019 I rode all the way around Lake Tahoe. While I was recovering, I found Blood Cancer United, which helps cancer patients and their loved ones and funds research to find cures. I now serve on its board because my goal is to make sure today's patients become tomorrow's survivors.
And that only happens if the research keeps going.
Under Prop 38, at least half the funds, $4.2 billion, are dedicated to cancer, Alzheimer's and heart disease. The money goes only to California nonprofit universities and research institutions, never to for-profit corporations.
UCLA Health already treats cancer patients and offers access to clinical trials right here in Santa Monica, and Prop 38 could open the door for UCLA to take part in the clinical trials the measure funds. That's how a discovery in a lab becomes a treatment for a patient.
And while Prop 38 is designed to pay for itself, the real question I'd ask Californians who are considering how to vote is: Can you put a price tag on a life? On millions of lives? What if it was you or your loved one? Prop 38 could save your life or the life of someone you love.
My daughter didn't understand cancer, but she felt the weight of it as time went on. She also felt our community step in, with friends picking her up from school and meal trains feeding our family. She learned what love looks like when a family pulls together instead of falling apart.
Now she's in college studying political science and is about to vote in her first election.
“We're in a world right now that is a little scary,” she told me. “But we, as young adults and as the future generation, have the power to do something about it. That starts by voting Yes on Proposition 38."
My daughter was my second wind and Prop 38 can be someone else's. Please join our family in voting yes on Prop 38.
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Andrew Dale, Santa Monica resident, lymphoma survivor and board member of Blood Cancer United