I'm writing in response to Tuesday's column on cancer funding. I wanted to thank Steve Panza for reminding us that, despite the gulf war and the lives it is taking, there are silent diseases that are killing our loved ones at home.

While we can't help but focus our attention on the Middle East, it is important that we don't forget about what's important in the United States.

The $2 billion that Congress allocates to cancer research each year is a small fraction of what is spent on military defense. I support the troops in the gulf, but I can't help but think there are ulterior economic motives behind the liberation of Kuwait. It seems our government is so motivated by money that it sometimes neglects its own peoples' standard of living.

My mother died from ovarian cancer, an increasing cause of death for women. In the short time she lived with cancer, I saw nothing but pain fill her body. She was 45 when she passed away; an age that is considered young by today's standards. I feel angry and cheated and I hate the cancer for taking her away.

Ovarian cancer, like many cancers, is deadly. It is the type of disease you can't understand until you've witnessed what it does. Maybe Congress should visit an oncology unit some day and see the suffering first-hand because medical advances can only come as fast as the money that funds them.

Before this year, I knew the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon was the largest and most beneficial student-run philanthropy in the country. I now know how vital the money dancers raise is. The only way to combat diseases like cancer is through research, and the only way to conduct research is with money.

I realize the size of our nation's debt, and that everyone who wants money can't have it, but when it comes to a killer like cancer, money should not be a deterrent. I have faith that somewhere, someone is going to find a cure for this killer. In the mean time, we're wasting time and lives by limiting funding.

I think it's time our country re-evaluate its priorities and instead of telling us how much it cares, do something to show us.