Tens of thousands of people left messages for breast cancer victim; condolences to be delivered in Dirksen Building at the end of 'March for Melanie"
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Steve Hart, surviving partner of Melanie Shouse, will deliver a special book of condolences to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Room G50 of the Dirksen Building.
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The condolences were offered by thousands of people who responded to an appeal for action issued by USAction's online arm, TrueMajority. Melanie Shouse, an activist from St. Louis, died on Jan. 30 after succumbing to breast cancer. Her insurance provider denied her the coverage recommended by her doctors.
"Melanie would have been alive and well today if we had a health care system that worked," Hart said. "The worst thing that can happen to a person happened because of our health care system. And it didn't have to be that way."
"When we helped spread the word about Melanie's story, tens of thousands of USAction/TrueMajority members offered condolences online," said Matt Holland, TrueMajority director. "Within 24 hours, 12,000 people commented, expressed their sympathies and often told their own health care horror story. So far, more than 30,000 people have visited our web site and nearly 6,000 people have joined a special Facebook Memorial Page in Melanie's honor."
The condolences will be delivered at the end of a 135-mile march from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. Entitled, "March to the Finish Line for Melanie," participants are calling on Congress to pass health care reform without further delay. Note to media: To see a copy of "Condolences for Melanie," please visit http://www.usaction.org/docs/CondolencesForMelanie.pdf
To visit a memorial page built in Melanie's honor, please visit www.facebook.com/RIPMelanie.
And to learn more about the march from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., please visit:
www.melaniesmarch.com
USAction is a co-founder of Health Care for America Now, the nation's largest health care reform campaign, and serves as co-chair of its steering committee. In 2009, USAction affiliates and partners, with the help of their state HCAN coalitions, generated nearly half a million grassroots contacts to Congress, organized or supported 480 town hall meetings and forums and turned out 70,997 supporters to 1,785 Congressional outreach activities, including town halls, lobby visits, grassroots call-in days, petition deliveries, press conferences and letter-writing campaigns.
/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Feb. 23/Contact: David Elliot, USAction 202.263.4567 202.607.7036 (cell)
SOURCE USAction
