Senator Warner met with 25 students from Fairfax High School yesterday who were on Capitol Hill to raise awareness about childhood cancer. The students presented Senator Warner with a petition with more than 60,000 signatures that urged elected officials to make pediatric cancer research a national priority.

Senator Warner praised the students for their courageous efforts speak out about such an important issue. “As a father of three daughters, I can’t even imagine how hard this is for families,” the Senator said. “We should do everything we can to protect our children from cancer.”

In January, Senator Warner announced he would co-sponsor the bipartisan Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, a bill aimed at making childhood cancer research a federal priority. Gabriella Miller was young girl from Virginia who was only 9 years old when diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The legislation named after her prioritizes federal funding for medical research at the NIH on childhood cancer, autism and many other diseases impacting our children.