Dellann Elliott took her fight against cancer to the Capitol during Brain Tumor Action Week.

In the first week of May, Jimmy Fund Golf Tournament Director Dellann Elliott traveled to Washington, D.C. at the invitation of the Brain Tumor Action Network to meet with Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). The purpose of the trip was to lobby for increased funding for brain cancer research and to change legislation that will increase patient rights.

Elliott, of Sammamish, Wash., lost her husband, Chris, to glioblastoma brain cancer in 2002 when he was just 41. Chris underwent several surgeries to remove invasive tumors, but when treatment options in Seattle were exhausted, Chris traveled to Dana-Farber, a national brain tumor center. The Elliotts credit the treatment that Chris received at DFCI with prolonging his life an additional 10 months, precious time for a husband and father of two young children.

"Patients and their families are not being informed at diagnosis about these brain tumor centers like the one at Dana-Farber," says Elliott. "We’re left to find our own resources and time is a precious commodity that patients don’t have. Had we known about DFCI when Chris was first diagnosed I truly believe he would have lived longer."

While in the capitol, Elliott reinitiated drafting legislation that requires Washington State hospitals to inform brain cancer patients immediately upon diagnosis about the hospitals around the country that are considered national brain tumor centers. Washington State does not currently have a nationally recognized adult brain tumor center. The legislation will also require doctors of patients who opt to stay in state for treatment to consult on treatment protocols with physicians at brain tumor centers.

Elliott’s visit to D.C. is just part of her effort to eradicate glioblastoma. She is also the director of the Christopher S. Elliott Memorial Glioblastoma Brain Tumor Research Fund, which was established just three weeks before Chris’s death.