Community Update

I am a husband who, 13 years ago, helped
his wife battle and survive breast cancer.  And I am also a father whose daughter has been bravely
fighting breast cancer since 2011 despite some extremely serious setbacks.  During breast cancer awareness month, I
consider it my duty to join the chorus of voices reminding women why it is
important to get annual mammograms. 
However, in my daughter’s case – as well as 40 percent of women between
the ages of forty and fifty – a mammogram is simply not enough.   This is because they have dense
breasts and a mammogram may not reveal the tumors that would enable these women
to get diagnosed and treated while the cancer is in its early stages.  The fact is women with dense breasts
are four to five times more likely to get breast cancer.

We are fortunate to live in a state that
recognizes that women, like my daughter, who have dense breasts, require
additional testing and this past year, passed a law requiring healthcare
providers to notify women if they have dense breast tissue.  However, it is not enough to simply
know this information, women and their physicians must also act!

If my daughter had known, she and our
family could have been spared a lot of anguish and pain. While I can’t unring
the bell of what happened to her, I can sound the alarm for other women to get
their mammograms and if they have dense breasts, be sure they aggressively seek
additional tests by actively speaking with their doctor about options such as
ultrasound and or MRI.

To all husbands and fathers, encourage the
special women in your life to be proactive in regard to breast health and get
tested. Breast cancer awareness is not just for October – it is a12-month, 24-7
job and it all begins by being informed.