After Cancer, Lawmaker Urges Tests

[question everything]

Source: Washington Post

By Richard Leiby
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 24, 2009; C01

She didn't cry on "Good Morning America." She didn't cry when she talked to the local press. But yesterday, surrounded by a sisterhood of other breast cancer survivors, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stood looking so vulnerable and human -- so unlike a typical member of Congress -- at a lectern in a small Capitol dining room, and broke down repeatedly. How could she not? She was telling a roomful of reporters and other strangers about having her breasts and ovaries removed. It's a remarkable story that hardly anyone in Washington knew about until a few days ago.

(snip)

Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a rising star in her party, was there to announce legislation for a national campaign to educate the public, particularly young women and their doctors, about the need for a much earlier approach to breast cancer detection. The accepted standard of mammograms at age 40, advocacy groups say, creates a false sense of security for younger women. Other cancer survivors, some in their 30s, came to the Hill to ring the alarm, to applaud Wasserman Schultz for going public and to cry with her.

Now 42, the mother of three said she discovered a lump in December 2007 while doing a self-examination, and has since undergone seven major surgeries. She kept the illness private while campaigning for reelection and stumping nationwide for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, then Barack Obama. She didn't want the illness to "define" her, Wasserman Schultz said. Most of her staff didn't know about her condition, according to a spokesman. Wasserman Schultz said that after learning she was at greater risk for the cancer to spread because of her Ashkenazi Jewish descent, she elected to have a double mastectomy, as well as the removal of her ovaries.

Her legislation, which seeks $9 million annually, has one of those memorable acronyms only members of Congress can invent: the EARLY (Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young) Act... The legislation would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to begin educational campaigns in high schools and universities. It has a particular focus on ethnic minorities such as young African American and Jewish women, who are at higher genetic risk.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/contehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032302801.htmlnt/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032302801.html

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She found out that she carried the BRCA gene, and this prompted her for the double mastectomy and the removal of the ovaries. Not every breast cancer patient needs to take these drastic measures.

This is from the National Cancer Institute

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/risk/brca

[MADem]

1. I really admire that woman! Didn't her husband dump her during this time?

Real stand-up guy....

[question everything]

2. I don't know. None of this was discussed on either MSNBC

yesterday, or on GMA this morning. Apparently, only this past weekend she told her kids that her health problems from the previous years was cancer..

[4lbs]

5. Actually, she appeared for 5 minutes on MSNBC yesterday, talking to Norah O'Donnell about it

right around noon.

[question everything]

11. I know. I saw her. This was where she discussed her genetic mutation

and that she underwent double mastectomy.

But there was never any discussion about her husband..

[dflprincess]

3. Does the national education campaign include money for tests and treatments?

Education won't do a damn thing for you if you still can't afford to go to the doctor.

I always wonder about these outfits that offer free screening mammograms to women who are not insured. They never tell us what they'll do if the mammogram indicates a problem. It can cost thousands, just to find out that weird area on the film is benign.

[Delphinus]

8. Thank you!

You get it.

[AlinPA]

4. She is a tough woman and deserves great respect. How long before the slime media

at Fox "News", CNN , MSNBC start trashing her?

[question everything]

7. She certainly knows how to handle Fox

ep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared on Hannity & Colmes last night (10/2/08) to discuss the preceding debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Sean Hannity did his best to trap her with his gotcha questions but his best was not good enough. She flat out refused to answer them and insisted on reframing the discussion. The result? She won Hannity's obvious admiration and respect.

http://www.newshounds.us/2008/10/03/debbie_wasserman_schultz_refuses_to_let_sean_hannity_frame_the_debate.php

and

I'm not a fan of Democrats appearing on FOXNews. I think it legitimizes a propaganda outlet stacked against Democrats and allows them to frame the issues. However, if Democrats who agree to appear on FOX do what Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida does here, then more power to them. Brit Hume desperately wants to paint the jam the Florida delegates are in as the fault of Florida State Legislature, despite the fact that it was really pushed by the Republican-led majority. So Hume tries to paint Wasserman-Schultz into a corner and she brooks no quarter from him and refuses to let him control the framing. Go Debbie!

http://crooksandliars.com/2008/03/09/foxnews-sunday-debbie-wasserman-schultz-rejects-brit-humes-framing

[AlinPA]

9. I agree that Democrats should not go on Fox "News" programs. They help

Fox to claim "fair and balanced" when it is really just a republican propaganda channel.

[Tempest]

6. Somewhere Sarah Palin is laughing at her

Just like she laughed at the female Alaskan legislator who had cancer.

[SoCalDem]

10. She's actually a very lucky woman.. I hope she knows it..

She said yesterday she's had SEVEN operations in a year or so..

She "could" be a cashier at Walmart, and would probably not even know she HAD cancer at this point..

She has "Cadillac" insurance, at a price she could well afford, and she has a job where she can afford to take enough time off to HAVE seven surgeries, keep her job, and maintain the secrecy she wanted, about her situation..

Around here, people have to go public..hold car washes, bake sales, and beg in the newspapers.. that is, when they are not on hold on their phone, pressing "6" and then "4", holding for hours, until finally hearing from "Duane, the $10 hr benefit coordinator", that the procedure their doctor ordered, is not covered..oh and "have a nice day"..

[TechBear_Seattle]

12. And what about prostate cancer, which kills more men than breast cancer kills women?

A Gender Gap in Cancer

This year (2007) 218,890 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. By comparison, 178,480 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women. Not a huge difference, but a new report finds that for every prostate cancer drug on the market, there are seven used to treat breast cancer, and federal spending on breast cancer research outpaces prostate cancer spending by a ratio of nearly two to one.

The National Prostate Cancer Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, released the report, titled "The Prostate Cancer Gap: A Crisis in Men's Health." It examines what the group calls "glaring disparities" in awareness, funding, media coverage, and research between prostate and breast cancer, even though prostate cancer is the second-deadliest cancer in men after lung cancer. "Year after year, the prostate cancer community has received less attention and less funding than many other diseases," says Dr. Richard Adkins, chief executive office and vice-chairman of the prostate cancer coalition.

The article continues here.

[No Elephants]

13. Do you really want to discuss disparity between the genders in health care funding, etc.? I would,

but this is not the thread for it. No one should die of cancer, but in that discussion, men are not going to come out the victims, trust me.

[Skittles]

15. CORRECT

[TechBear_Seattle]

17. Let's

Breast cancer: How much money is taken in by high profile fundraisers and events? How much funding does breast cancer research receive from the US federal government? How many medicines have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of breast cancer? Out of the total number of people diagnosed with breast cancer in a given year, what percentage will die of breast cancer within ten years? How many people diagnosed with breast cancer are diagnosed in the early stages when it is eminently treatable, thanks to massive public health campaigns financed by private and public sources?

Prostate cancer: How much money is taken in by high profile fundraisers and events? How much funding does prostate cancer research receive from the US federal government? How many medicines have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of prostate cancer? Out of the total number of people diagnosed with prostate cancer in a given year, what percentage will die of prostate cancer within ten years? How many people diagnosed with prostate cancer are diagnosed in the early stages when it is eminently treatable, thanks to massive public health campaigns financed by private and public sources?

Please keep the discussion on topic.

[No Elephants]

18. As I said in my prior post, this is not the thread for that discussion.

[question everything]

16. Just last week there have been reports that PSA test does not do anything

In most men, especially older ones, if there is a prostate cancer, it is a slow growing which will not kill them. Yet, many get tested and undergo painful biopsy and then surgery.

A medical correspondent on CNN actually said that men would be better off not getting tested for PSA since if there is a cancer they will have hard time, later on, getting an insurance.

My jaw dropped and yet I realized how right she is.

Still, some talk about a gender gap, comparing prostate cancer to cervical cancer which is almost always deadly. Apparently it can be detected with CA125 yet most insurance will not pay for it, unless there is a family member diagnosed with cervical cancer.

[No Elephants]

14. This woman did a great job supporting Hillary, then immediately did a great job

supporting the nominee of her Party, with no half heartedness in either case. And all while she was going through this and maybe a separation.

Respect.

Best wishes.

Blessings.