The FAIR Foundation is dedicated to fair and equitable distributions of Nation Institutes of Health (NIH) research funds for all diseases, including the sixteen that kill more Americans than AIDS.

At the "March on DC for Hepatitis C Awareness" event, Pam and Laura (left) read the following speech that was referred to as a "Unity Speech" because many patients and hepatitis advocacy groups participated in getting it to the event, including FAIR. It was written as a unified effort by the members of the "Hep C the Other C Foundation Support Forum."

The Urgent Need for Unity in our Quest

Benjamin Franklin remarked at the signing of the declaration of independence, "We must all hang together or we will surely hang separately." As the victims of the latest "baby boomer" disease we MUST UNITE to ensure our lives and our health are not sacrificed on the altar of political and budgetary expediency. We challenge our leaders to give us directions of unity in the fight against Hepatitis C! We want leadership that translates to compassion in caring for the already affected and infected but not criticism. Leadership that reflects involvement and participation of all because Hepatitis C does not choose it's recipients.

While there have been advances in treatment for Hepatitis C, this silent epidemic will not remain silent much longer. As more people are diagnosed and the demand for transplants and expensive medications soar, we will be left behind unless we unite now and are heard with a single voice. It is vital that we address this urgent issue and act wisely in all our efforts toward the most common blood borne infection in the world!

Now is the time to start lobbying our congressmen and state elected officials for more medicine, more research and more compassion. Current treatments for Hepatitis C result in an average cure rate of 50 percent. For those of us with irreversible damage, often, the only option is a liver transplant. We respectfully request leadership that will oppose injustice and unfairness, leadership that will embrace those who suffer and defend this cause.

It is true that we lack political status and adequate resources but above all there is a lack of regard for the sanctity of human life! Please respond to our plea with compassion, as if it were your family member infected. We are in desperate need, millions are ailing and each day, there are many newly infected patients. Let us work together for this generation and for the future generations to come. Let us all champion the cause with "Unity".

Our elected officials must understand that we still work, pay taxes, and VOTE while we are undergoing these treatments. We are constituents as well as patients. If we do not wish to become second class citizens we must speak and act in a united manner. We must break the conspiracy of silence and shame that binds us to treat our diagnosis like a terrible secret.

We deserve a public education program, an aggressive research program for new medicines, and public understanding as to what this terrible disease is all about.

But these goals can only be achieved as a united group. Otherwise we will remain at the end of the budget allocation line, sweeping only the financial dregs left over from other diseases and their aggressive advocacy and research programs.

Let's stand together as brothers and sisters, united by a terrible disease but with a purity and clarity of purpose that no future generation will have to endure this virus.

In conclusion, we must compose leadership that includes compassion and unity! If we maintain leadership of unity, we shall accomplish giving those who have grown hopelessly angry and weary HOPE and A VOICE! They will respond with wisdom not with anger, not with condemnation but with understanding and above all, they will realize that this government does care and will work effortlessly on our behalf to find a cure for those fifty percent who are dying each day, or for those trying to live with this systemic chronic illness, that daily strips us of what so many take for granted, good health!

Whoever you are; citizen, elected official, patient, doctor, lawyer or caregiver, we urge you to do whatever you must do to stop the spread of this disease by increasing awareness and funding aggressive research programs. We all must work together to achieve this common goal.

We respectfully request that you expedite a plan and policy for all who have this insidious disease. If you can sing, please sing a song of hope. If you can write, write about justice. If you can pray, pray for our beloved brothers and sisters who have succumbed after a valiant battle, forgotten orphans, pray for the person giving care, pray for our country to recognize this devastating disease; but most importantly, Hepatitis C calls for: unity, not division, compassion, not blame, understanding, not ignorance, and leadership that translates into tangible results.

Our destiny is in our own hands through UNITY in fighting for better governmental recognition of this disease that has taken away fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives and friends.