[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 167 (Wednesday, December 21, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S14311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING WINTER WONDERLAND WALK FOR THE CURE DAY

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, breast cancer is one of the most 
frequently diagnosed cancers in women. More than 211,240 new cases of 
breast cancer in women will be diagnosed in the United States in 2005. 
In my own State of Connecticut, more than 2,600 women are expected to 
be diagnosed and 530 are expected to die from breast cancer this year. 
Overall, it is believed that 1 in every 10 women will develop breast 
cancer at least once in their lifetime.
  The best defense against breast cancer, is early detection. The 
sooner one can detect breast cancer, the better the chances that the 
disease can be successfully treated. It is because of this that the 
American Cancer Society suggests that all women age 40 and over have a 
mammogram annually. As important, women must learn to do regular self 
breast exams.
  Women generally will understand their bodies better than doctors. In 
Connecticut, early detection from mammograms and self breast exam has 
helped our State achieve a 5-year survival rate, for those women 
diagnosed with breast cancer, of 97 percent. That is one of the highest 
such survival rates in the country.
  As successful as my State has been, we have not been successful 
enough. We must strive to increase awareness and education of breast 
cancer so that all women are aware of the risk it poses and the 
indisputable benefits of early detection. We must increase research 
into the relationship between environmental exposures, genetic 
predisposition, and breast cancer risk and also seek new drugs and 
tools that will allow health care professionals to better treat breast 
cancer patients with the goal of cure.
  It is in this spirit on January 21, 2006, Eastern Mountain Sports 
Connecticut stores will sponsor the Winter Wonderland Walk for the Cure 
to benefit both breast cancer research and the Connecticut chapter of 
the Susan G. Women Breast Cancer Foundation, at Tarrywile Park in 
Danbury, CT.
  Therefore, it is my pleasure to join Connecticut's Governor, M. Jodi 
Rell, herself a breast cancer survivor, in celebrating, in recognition 
of the need to increase awareness about breast cancer and the need for 
early detection, January 21, 2006 as Winter Wonderland Walk for the 
Cure Day in Danbury, CT.

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