Importance of Breast Cancer Awareness

THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

* Mr. SHAYS. Madam Speaker, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among American women and more than 40,000 women will die from breast cancer this year alone. Three of four women diagnosed with breast cancer have no known risk--no family history.

* While the diagnosis rate of this cancer continues to increase, I am thankful the breast cancer death rate is steadily decreasing, which is in large part due to advancing medical treatments and an increase in early detection. By continuing to support breast cancer research and early diagnosis, we can help bring an end to this disease that takes a new life once every fourteen minutes.

* In recognition of last year's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Karen Stevenson, a resident of New Canaan, Connecticut, gave an address at the launch of the ``Paint the Town Pink' program at New Canaan Town Hall. I submit the text of Ms. Stevenson's remarks to be entered into the RECORD.

Good morning. Active and healthy--definitely much more fit than I am now--with no history of the disease in the family, I was completely blindsided by a breast cancer diagnosis 5 years ago based on an unusual mammogram result. I had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery followed by 5 months of chemotherapy. My daughters were 7 and 10 at the time.

With the warm generosity of family, friends and colleagues who supplied moral support, hugs, and many a meal to help maintain normalcy in the girls' routine at home, we navigated through that difficult period and came out the other side.

The kids were troopers. To this day they still find such humor in telling the story of Mom having melted her wig on Thanksgiving Day with a sudden blast of heat from the oven while basting.

My situation is not unique, but rather, representative of what so many women in our community have faced.

I shared the first few weeks of chemo with a group of spectacular women and we quickly banded together to help carry one another through the various rounds of surgeries, chemo, radiation, genetic testing, additional surgeries, and follow-on treatments in all the years since.

Licia, a young professional diagnosed only 4 months after being married,

Kerry, an exceptionally talented marketing director, artist and mom, diagnosed only 1 week before giving birth to her second child,

Debbie, a teacher and beautiful mother of three young school children,

Julia, a NYC actress and mother of two teenagers,

Chris, an attorney and mother of two pre-school daughters.

Of note, while we were a randomly assembled group of six, four of us were under 35 years old and all of us were under age 43.

Breast cancer is everywhere and I'm sure you can each add several names of patients and loved ones to the growing list. While the topic doesn't typically surface in casual conversation it always amazes me how often we discover this common sisterhood.

While the diagnosis itself is daunting, we are the fortunate beneficiaries of the drug trials and experiences of the many who have gone before us over the past 20 years, and as a result, there are many more treatment options available, as well as access to solid information about their efficacy and managing side effects. In my case and for many others, early detection and the rapidly evolving treatment have ensured we can continue to attend the soccer games and school plays, host family holidays and be here to enjoy our families.

The harsh reality is that even the treatments available today are not successful for all of us and the implication of later diagnosis is significantly added risk. It is just heartbreaking to watch so many vibrant women in our community struggle and suffer for years, exhausting treatment options that will hold back their cancer and pain while trying to continue care for their families.

We are so fortunate to live in an area with such excellent access to quality care locally--for regular check-ups, for mobile mammograms, and should it be necessary, for both proven and innovative cancer treatments. But we must take advantage of that access!

Ask yourself tonight as you are tucking your children into bed ..... or talking to your college student via phone this weekend ..... or watching your grandson's football game ..... Are you willing to put this in jeopardy unnecessarily when it takes only an hour of your time to make and keep a screening appointment? As you walk past the waves of pink on Elm and Main Streets, won't you take a pledge today to ensure all the important women in your life make this a priority?

On behalf of all of those who have been touched personally by Breast Cancer--and I'm sure there are many here today--we offer our profound thanks to the merchants of New Canaan and to Janet Blaylock and the team of volunteers she has mobilized. Your efforts to Paint the Town Pink for a weeks in October as a collective call to action will most certainly be a positive turning point in the lives of many families in our community.

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