When We Fail Science, People Die: SCOTUS Strikes a Blow
Ben’s Fight for His Life, Now Under Attack
We’re not just a podcast. We’re here to get into good trouble in all its forms. Please read this very moving and personal story about Ben - and take action if you can (see action items at the bottom). If you like to hear about things you can do to advocate, resist and fight - please subscribe.
I met Ben’s partner, Beth, on social media. She fights for the man she loves and for every cancer patient who depends on science to stay alive. Telling Ben’s story costs her: each retelling reopens fear and exhaustion. But Beth knows truth matters, so today I lend her my voice.
Ben greets the world with a grin. That joy comes before you notice the port under his shirt or learn that science is keeping him alive. He has stage 4B metastatic colorectal cancer, held back only by decades of taxpayer-funded NIH and National Cancer Institute research.
His diagnosis came without warning: relentless constipation, ER pain, and a scan showing cancer had already spread to his liver. He was in his thirties. Doctors told him his median survival was two years.
Chemo bought Ben time but drained his strength. His cancer carried the KRAS G12C mutation, long seen as a death sentence. Then scientists cracked it. Last year, a breakthrough drug, adagrasib, emerged from publicly funded research. Now Ben is in a trial with two cutting-edge immunotherapies.
“Before, chemo knocked me down for days,” Ben says. “Now, I get treatment Wednesday and I’m back at work Thursday. I didn’t think feeling this good was possible.”
For millions like Ben, federal research funding delivers - transforming dead ends into second chances.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided Ben doesn’t deserve that chance.
Supreme Court Green-Lights Destruction
On August 21, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to let Trump slash $783 million in NIH research grants. The decision landed just before the end-of-fiscal-year deadline, meaning $6 billion in unspent NIH funds may return to the Treasury on September 30. At least $15 billion in research now faces elimination.
A former NIH official warned: “They’re setting them up to fail.” The manufactured chaos ensures agencies can’t process grants before the deadline. When the money vanishes, so does hope.
Cancer Research Targeted for Elimination
Research specifically gutted by the ruling:
University of Hawaii studies identifying genetic risk factors for colorectal cancer among Native Hawaiians, who face higher death rates
Research on disparities affecting Black women, rural communities, and underserved populations
$407 million in health disparity research, half of all terminated grants
Unprecedented Cuts and Their Reach
Combined with earlier cuts, cancer research faces:
$2.7 billion slashed from NIH funding this year
31% drop in cancer research funding compared to last year
1,700 grants terminated since February
National Cancer Institute losing 40% of its budget
Direct Damage to Patients
Immediate patient impact:
Major cancer centers suspend trial enrollments
Children’s Oncology Group loses over half its operations
Pediatric cancer research faces mass cancellations, though children receive less than 4% of cancer research funding
Rural patients, already 10% more likely to die from cancer, lose critical access to experimental treatments
Patient numbers at NIH hospitals plummet by 20%
Research Infrastructure Collapse
Scientific infrastructure decimated:
More than 1,700 grants terminated since February
Clinical trials shut down mid-study, destroying years of data
Early-career scientists driven from the field
Animal subjects euthanized as studies halt abruptly
Scientists don’t just lose grants: they lose careers. Seventy-five percent of researchers now consider leaving America as foreign countries recruit our brightest minds.
Economic Catastrophe
Impact beyond science:
Every NIH dollar returns $2 to the economy
68,000 jobs destroyed nationwide
Billions in economic value erased
America’s biomedical leadership handed to China and Europe
Democracy Dies in Laboratories
The ruling is more than bad policy: it signals the death of democratic governance.
Strong democracies invest in knowledge. We solve problems together, guided by evidence, protecting those most at risk. Authoritarians destroy institutions, politicize science, and let ideology triumph over human life.
When the highest court sanctions the destruction of life-saving research, democracy itself is under attack.
The Choice Before Us
We have 38 days to decide whether America remains a beacon of scientific progress or becomes a cautionary tale of democratic collapse.
Cancer doesn’t care about Supreme Court rulings. But the research that defeats cancer depends on institutions, funding, and the democratic commitment to put human life above ideology.
Ben’s breakthrough didn’t happen by accident. It came from decades of public investment, collaborative research, and the principle that every life has value.
The Supreme Court may have handed Trump the knife, but Congress still controls the purse strings. We can save cancer research—and democracy itself—if we act now.
Let’s fight for Ben. For the millions facing cancer. For the idea that in America, hope backed by science must triumph over fear backed by power.
The clock is ticking: 38 days to save lives, 38 days to save hope.
What You Can Do Right Now, Before September 30
Ben’s story proves science works when we fund it. But we have 38 days to save it.
Immediate Actions:
Call Congress NOW: 202-224-3121. Demand they restore NIH funding and block fund forfeitures before September 30
Contact the Senate Appropriations Committee—they already voted to increase NIH funding by $400 million, rejecting Trump's cuts
Share Ben's story and tag your representatives on social media.
Join emergency advocacy campaigns:
Support Organizations Filling the Gap:
Every call, every post, every donation matters.
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