PHOENIX – The group of bipartisan senators, including U.S. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally of Arizona, who worked to designate July 17 as Glioblastoma Awareness Day, ushered in its first observance Wednesday.

Sinema and McSally co-sponsored Resolution 245 in part to honor late Sen. John McCain, the six-term Arizona senator who died of the aggressive brain cancer almost a year ago.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) also co-sponsored the bill, which was introduced in May by longtime McCain friend Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and passed in June.

“Can you imagine bringing everybody together like that?” McSally told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday. “People say we can’t get things done, but this is a unifying issue in the Senate.”

McCain, a Republican, spent much of his final year in the Senate urging more nonpartisanship among his colleagues and in politics in general.

He died Aug. 25, 2018, at his Sedona-area home. He was 81 and had been diagnosed in July 2017.

“(The day) is highlighting this awful disease and supporting efforts to develop better treatment … and research,” McSally said, adding the senators worked with the McCain family in crafting the document.

Sinema said in a prepared statement, “John McCain was a hero and his leadership is a constant inspiration to me. I miss him terribly.”

“I hope this resolution helps advance new treatments for glioblastoma and all brain cancers.”

McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, co-host of morning talk show, “The View,” also tweeted about the day:

.@MeghanMcCain and her mother @cindymccain honor their late father and husband Sen. John McCain on Glioblastoma Awareness Day. ❤️

Learn more about the fight against Glioblastoma: https://t.co/aoofmEbLfT #GBMday pic.twitter.com/xl8UMUEN6g

— The View (@TheView) July 17, 2019

Graham, who became friends with McCain in the late 1990s, tweeted:

Tragically, glioblastoma has taken the lives of too many across the country, including those of our close former colleagues Sen. John McCain and Sen. Ted Kennedy. It has no party affiliation, does not discriminate on the basis of sex, financial status or age.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 17, 2019

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood contributed to this report.

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