Stacy Jacobson
Senior Regional Media Advocacy Manager
Media Advisory: “Suits and Sneakers” Cancer Action Day Brings Advocates to Columbia
February 24, 2025
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Around 100 cancer survivors, patients, caregivers and advocates with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) from all over South Carolina will be at the Statehouse on Wednesday, February 26, for the annual “Suits and Sneakers” Cancer Action Day from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Lawmakers and volunteers lace up their sneakers on this day every year so they can “hit the ground running” to make cancer policy a priority. The event will include a breakfast with lawmakers from 8 to 10 a.m. and a news conference at 10:30. Reporters are welcome anytime, 8 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will ask their lawmakers to:
- Increase access to health care by expanding Medicaid, a lifeline for access to care that helps screen for, detect, treat and survive cancer.
- Allocate $5 million from a settlement with JUUL directly to state programs that help with tobacco prevention and quitting. These programs are especially critical now, as studies show South Carolina high school students use e-cigarettes at more than double the national rate.
- Pass HB 3202 to require health insurance to provide diagnostic and supplemental breast examination coverage without cost-sharing requirements.
New statistics show nearly 35,000 South Carolinians will be diagnosed with cancer in 2025 and more than 11,000 people will die from the disease. Advocates focus on policies that would save lives.
WHO: Cancer survivors, patients and volunteer advocates from around South Carolina
WHAT: “Suits and Sneakers” Cancer Action Day
SCHEDULE: 8-10 a.m.: Breakfast, Blatt House Office building Room 112
10:30 a.m.: News conference, South Carolina Statehouse Rotunda
11 a.m.- 12 noon: Suits and Sneakers volunteer recognitions in House chambers
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