Breast Cancer Awareness Month
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
PAGE S13794
Nov. 3, 2003
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered to be printed in the RECORD.
Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. President, I rise to acknowledge October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This gives us an opportunity to remember the millions of victims and their families affected by breast cancer. More than 6,000 individuals in North Carolina are diagnosed each year with breast cancer, and 1,100 of them die as a result. Across the country, one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. This is a tragedy, and we must do more to treat it and find a cure.
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, I want to share the story of an extraordinary family in Goldsboro, who has been impacted by this disease in the most devastating and tragic sense. Willie and Mittie Darden, are the parents of 15 children. When Mr. Darden passed away in 1976, Mrs. Darden, known to her friends and family as Mit, became the head of the Darden family. As you can imagine, family gatherings at her home are always large, loving, and filled with joy.
Mit has always been a woman of the deepest faith. Being a life-long member of Darden Chapel Free Will Baptist Church, her faith was the underpinning of the strength she needed to endure the loss of two children to childhood illness. No doubt the pain was tremendous. Years later this pillar of strength for her family and community would endure the harshest of fates as she would lose four daughters to breast cancer. They were Hattie Williams, Louise Darden, Bertha Bennett, and Ann Bryant.
Hattie Williams was the mother of one daughter and had four grandchildren. She spent 20 years in the Wayne County School System as a Head Start teacher, later becoming the owner and operator of her own day care center. On her 50th birthday, March 24, 1993, Mrs. Williams invited her family to visit her. Her family recounts that she spent the evening walking the halls with them as she sang and gave thanks to God for her life and her family. Two days later at dawn she passed away.
Louise Darden, nicknamed Lou Lou, was the mother of four children and a grandmother of four. She, too, was a Head Start teacher. Ms. Darden was also an avid cook and was responsible for designing the t-shirts for the family reunions. As her illness worsened, it was she who gave strength and comfort to her family. She truly felt we are spiritual beings going through a human experience. She transitioned this life on March 2, 1998.
Bertha Bennett is remembered as the life of the party to her family. She spent most of her adult life in Washington, D.C., where she was a mother of three children and a grandmother of nine. Family members say that the teachings of her parents, rooted in the church, are what caused her to overcome alcohol dependency and become a devout Jehovah Witness. Mrs. Bennett, called Bert by her family, served as a source of inspiration to her family and countless friends. Her family was visiting her here in Washington at a hospice when word was sent to them that Ann was being moved to a hospice in Goldsboro as she, too, was fighting breast cancer. By the time the family returned home to North Carolina, they learned
Bert had died. It was May 12, 2000.
Ann Bryant had taken over the duties as family secretary and organizer after the death of her sister Hattie in 1993. The mother of five children and six grandchildren, Ann spent her adult life caring for others as a home hospice care nurse. When eastern North Carolina was hit by catastrophic floods, Ann spent considerable time making sure her family and friends had adequate housing. Her family says that her concern for others was so great that she was working on that project until the breast cancer had claimed her, 2 days after her sister Bert had passed away. It was May 14, 2000, Mother's Day.
On Mother's Day 2000, Mittie Coley Darden was a mother grieving yet again over the loss of not one but two more daughters to breast cancer. All of these women were wives, mothers, grandmothers, and friends. Words could not describe her anguish. Her faith sustained her though. She is the rock upon which others drew strength. It is in her tragedy that others in her church and community have become more aware of the importance of organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, where early detection and awareness programs are stressed. It is the story of her daughters that motivates others to participate in events like the Race for the Cure and to give of their resources to this cause.
Many of those who learn of Mit Darden's daughters are touched by the immense loss but are moved to action. I, too, am deeply touched and inspired. Very recently another of Mrs. Darden's daughter's was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was discovered very early through one of her regular screenings. Her doctors say that it was discovered in time and she has already started treatment. Through it all Mit Darden is ever faithful and prays that others will never have to endure what she has. She only wants to share what we all hope and pray fora cure.
I am proud to have led several efforts in Congress with ways to help reach that goal and help women who are diagnosed. The bipartisan Patient Protection Act that passed the Senate last year allows women to choose an OB/GYN as a primary care physician. The bill also requires health insurers to cover hospital stays for breast cancer treatment procedures. In the 106th Congress, I joined many of my colleagues in cosponsoring and passing legislation that gives Federal matching Medicaid dollars to provide breast and cervical cancer-related treatment. This law was an important step in ensuring that individuals suffering from breast cancer have access to modern treatment and technology regardless of their income level.
On behalf of Mit Darden and her daughters, and all the women and their friends and families affected by breast cancer, we must continue the fight against this disease with compassion and action. I urge my colleagues to join me.