Teresa Heinz says she's fighting breast cancer

[jefferson_dem]

Teresa Heinz says she's fighting breast cancer
By GLEN JOHNSON (AP) – 6 hours ago

BOSTON — Teresa Heinz says she is being treated for breast cancer discovered through mammography and argues that younger women should continue undergoing the tests despite a federal panel's recent recommendation to reduce their frequency.

The 71-year-old wife of the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts, told The Associated Press that the cost of mammography is far lower than the physical and personal tolls women ages 40 to 60 face if their cancer goes undetected early and they later have to be treated with aggressive chemotherapy.

"Chemotherapy is serious. It also costs a lot of money. It's very painful. And it's very destructive of people's — most people's — lives for a while, anyway. So why put people through that instead of just having a test that's done, and it's done?" Heinz told the AP during an interview this week. "So that's why I was so upset about that decision of this panel."

She recalled nurses in a hospital where she was receiving a magnetic resonance imaging procedure, or MRI, being "so livid" when they heard the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommend last month that women start receiving mammograms at age 50, rather than the long-standing practice of 40.

"They said, 'We've taken all these years to teach women to do preventive mammograms, and now look at this,'" Heinz said.

President Barack Obama's administration later backed off the recommendation amid criticism from many medical and women's groups. It said the government's policies "remain unchanged."

Kerry helped launch Obama on the national political stage by giving the then-Illinois senator the keynote speaking role at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gSlEyIlyRzEbDZkRWbVe4kxaVMjAD9COR5300

[bdamomma]

1. oh, my very best to her to fight this.

[karynnj]

2. II hope that she will come through this and return to good health

She is an incredible person - independent of who her husband is.

[mascarax]

3. I definitely wish her the best! (n/t)

[Cha]

4. Bless Teresa's Big Heart!

Here's to making a strong recovery from breast cancer and healing fantastically well, Teresa!

[IndianaGreen]

5. My thoughts and prayers are with Teresa, John, and the family

She has done a lot of humanitarian work.