Protesters at NIH push for more funding for childhood cancer research

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They marched along the edge of the campus of the National Institutes of Health.

Adults and children were chanting: "We are strong. We won't relent. Give us more than four percent."

The protesters are fighting for the lives of their children. Four percent of the National Cancer Institute budget goes to pediatric cancer.

"If a boat is sinking, you take the kids off first," says Michelle

Russell. "If your house is burning, you get the kids out first. So I don't understand why the kids seem to get the short end of the stick here on funding."

She lives in Maryland. Her daughter, Claire, has Ewing's sarcoma. Claire attended Friday's rally at the National Institutes of Health.

Protesters delivered a handmade card for new National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Doug Lowy.

In a statement about the 4 percent, the National Cancer Institute said: "This figure presents an incomplete picture of NCI's investment in childhood cancer because NCI spends nearly half of its budget on basic research that is not disease specific, but is fundamental to making advances across all areas of cancer research."