Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month is an annual designation observed in November. Sadly, my father succumbed to this horrible form of cancer in 2015.

The designation this month, and for that matter, any month, acts and helps spread the word about the dangers of pancreatic cancer. This is the time of year that most people speak up about this disease, and one of the main goals is to raise funds for early diagnosis research.

This week we once again celebrated Veterans Day. It originally celebrated the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. We have expanded that celebratory day to offer a day of thanks to all U.S. military personnel, active or retired.

 “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” – Abraham Lincoln

Voting matters. When voters don’t turn out to choose their local, county or state government representatives, they receive a government that doesn’t represent them. If you participate in the voting process, I can assure you that it will frequently ease your frustration over larger-than-life government issues. The more we all do our part and share our voices, the more we start to find others who share our viewpoints and are saying the same things. 

“Medicine abuse is a national epidemic” is the opening and disturbing introduction when visiting the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids’ website. It delves further with this explanation: “More Americans are abusing prescription medicine than ever, and like other types of drug use, problematic behavior often begins during the teen and your adult years.”

The unfortunate numbers. Breast cancer leads the list as the most frequent type of new cancer cases in New Jersey for 2019, according to the American Cancer Society. But, with a regularly scheduled mammogram, there is hope that early detection can lead to positive outcomes.

Several months ago, I wrote about the urgency needed to pass my "dark money" reform legislation. In spite of bitter opposition, our effort to shed light on dark money in New Jersey made great progress when Governor Phil Murphy signed the reform bill in June. 

Tomorrow is National Manufacturing Day and it is worthy drawing attention to this celebration because manufacturing matters in New Jersey. It’s as simple as that.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and the goal is to promote prevention awareness for everyone who faces difficulties and begins to have darker thoughts about how to deal with the situation. There is someone you can call who will help.

It is a suicide prevention hot line, 1-800-273-8255 (1-888-628-9454 for Spanish speakers), and I urge everyone who needs help to call. You will find there is hope and a way out from those troubling thoughts.

The statistics are brutal, and unfortunately, they are related to one of our most dreaded diseases: Alzheimer’s.

Yesterday, we celebrated the 18th anniversary of America’s September 11th tragedy. The event in 2001 touched and traumatized us deeply. It’s a moment that will forever be burned in the minds of those of us who were alive as these horrific events unfolded.