First Lady Michelle Obama Marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month October 24
The month of October is winding down, but it was not too late for the Obama administration to do its part to raise breast cancer awareness. The First Lady was in the center of it all, donning a pink ribbon on her lapel to indicate her being one with the rest of womankind in the battle against breast cancer.
The event was held on Friday morning at the First Lady’s Garden (the East Garden) in the White House. In attendance were breast cancer survivors and breast cancer awareness advocates, as well as members of Congress as well as Jill Biden, the wife of the vice-president.
Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Biden together make an ideal team in as far as breast cancer awareness is concerned. Mrs. Obama, after all, used to be a hospital administrator in Chicago. Mrs. Biden has a personal experience with breast cancer as some of her close friends were diagnosed with the disease. This led to her organizing a breast cancer education program in Delaware, according to a feature by the Associated Press.
While the First Lady spoke at length regarding women and breast cancer, perhaps more important are words from someone who knows first hand what it is like. Speaking at the event was breast cancer survivor Joni Lownsdale of Rockford, Illinois, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. She has since undergone treatment for her tumor and has been given a clean bill of health, with her doctor telling her that she had a 94 percent chance of remaining cancer-free.
Despite that fact, however, Lownsdale recounts how her bout with cancer has become a stigma of sorts in as far as getting health insurance is concerned; her remarks placed her right smack in the middle of the Obama administration’s push for health reforms.
Mrs. Obama pointed out how the health care reforms that the President is advocating will assist in preventing insurers from denying health insurance coverage to people with pre-existing conditions like Lownsdale, as well as require coverage for early disease detection procedures such as mammograms.
Tags: biden breast cancer, breast cancer awareness, breast cancer battle, breast cancer detection, breast cancer month, breast cancer treatment, obama breast cancer