On May 13 I participated in my fifth Komen Race for the Cure in Pittsburgh. This annual event not only helps raise money for breast cancer research, it also is a day of celebration for those women who have survived their battle with breast cancer.

Sadly though, as I ran I saw numerous names of mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and cousins on the back of shirts memorializing the lives of those women who did not win the fight.

As a nurse and researcher dedicated to advancing the field of breast cancer treatment and prevention, I wanted to draw your attention to the pending fate of the Study to Evaluate Letrozole and Raloxifene (STELLAR), or NSABP P-4, a new clinical study designed to evaluate efficiency of a drug that could reduce breast cancer incidence by more than 70 percent.

The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project's (NSABP) clinical trial is the next logical step in the evolution of breast cancer prevention and could save tens of thousands of lives. After the study underwent a rigorous review process -- including seven different proposals by various National Cancer Institute committees -- NCI's director abruptly halted activation of NSABP P-4 and continues to delay trial commencement.

It is not acceptable to withhold funding for a study that represents a vital opportunity to dramatically reduce the toll of breast cancer, given that more than 175,000 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year, and 40,000 will lose their lives to this disease.

Time is of the essence. We must persuade the NCI to release funding now for the critically important NSAPB P-4 trial or potentially risk losing this opportunity forever. Please contact your congressman and urge him to address this issue immediately.

I would like to look forward to the day when I can run the Race for the Cure and see the names of the survivors of this terrible disease on the back of the shirts instead of those brave women who lost their lives to it!

GAIL TRIBBLE, R.N., B.S.N., O.C.N.

Clinical Research Coordinator, Magee-Womens Breast Program