WCAC

 

As President Donald Trump prepares to address Congress Tuesday, Waltham mom Sarah Wroblewski spoke out against cuts in federal funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The former WBZ-TV meteorologist is the mother of 4-year-old Delcan Lyons, whose battle against stage four brain cancer has inspired many across the region.

 

“NIH studies have helped keep Declan alive, and it could very well be an NIH study right now that saves his life in the future,” Wroblewski said during a Democratic Women’s Caucus press conference Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Declan’s “excruciating” treatment involved six intense rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and three stem cell transplants. He has made remarkable progress, but his cancer could return as he participates in a new clinical trial.

 

Declan lives in Warrendale with his three siblings. Their dad, Bobby Lyons, is a WHS assistant principal.

“I'm here on behalf of all the parents, right now, who are sitting in hospital rooms with their children,” Wroblewski said. “When it comes to finding less toxic treatments and lifesaving cures for kids battling cancer, we don't have a single day to spare.”

 

Dozens of states, including Massachusetts, have joined lawsuits against the Trump administration over proposed caps in NIH funding, saying they would prevent life-saving lab research and clinical trials that could lead to cures. 

“Cutting NIH funding will cost those families—cost my family—precious hope, and it will certainly cost children their lives. Even a slight pause or interruption on ongoing studies will have devastating consequences,” Wroblewski said. 

A federal judge in Boston has twice blocked the Trump administration’s NIH policy.

 

Congresswoman Katherine Clark (MA-5), the second-ranked Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, invited Wroblewski to serve as her guest at the president’s joint address of Congress Tuesday night.

"What a heartless act of cruelty to tell a mom that her government is now defining the research her child needs to survive as ‘waste and inefficiency’,” Clark said. “That’s what Republicans have chosen to do. It is America’s most vulnerable, our kids, who are going to pay the price.”

As top research centers, Boston hospitals lead the nation in federal funding every year.

In 2024, Mass General received the most NIH grant funding ($641M), while other Boston hospitals (Brigham and Women’s, Boston Children’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) rank in the top 10 nationwide, according to NIH data.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, has defended the NIH policy.

“Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from administrative bloat means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less,” he said.