[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 125 (Friday, September 29, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1956-E1957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                IN HONOR OF LYNETTE AND FRANKIE BISCONTI

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2006

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, Lynette Bisconti is a courageous young 
woman who rejoiced when she discovered she was pregnant, only to soon 
learn she had breast cancer. Six physicians told her to terminate the 
pregnancy. Thankfully, she ignored the advice of these physicians and 
delivered a healthy baby boy. Her inspiring story is set forth in the 
attached excerpt from a recent national magazine article.

              [From the Family Circle Magazine Oct. 2006]

                           ``We Fought Back''

                           (By Sandra Gordon)

       Lynette was overjoyed late in 1997 when she learned she was 
     pregnant. But a month later that happiness turned to 
     heartache. After having surgery to remove what was presumed 
     to be a benign cyst on her left breast, she was told she had 
     cancer. ``The doctors said that the hormones my body was 
     producing would likely fuel the cancer, and that I had to 
     terminate the pregnancy immediately to save my own life,'' 
     she says. Lynette spent the next few days wrestling with the 
     dilemma of what to do and at the same time began to 
     experience bleeding that made her think she might be 
     miscarrying.
       When she went in for an ultrasound, the obstetrician told 
     her, ``This little guy is hanging on.'' Lynette's mind was 
     made up in that moment. ``My heart leapt,'' says Lynette. ``I 
     knew that no matter what, no matter how bad it got, my baby 
     and I would get through this together.''
       Biggest hurdle: Finding physicians who respected her 
     decision. Three weeks after her diagnosis Lynette had a 
     mastectomy. ``The lab report was bad. I had an aggressive 
     cancer that had spread to several lymph nodes. I was told 
     that if I went ahead with chemotherapy, which was the next 
     step, my baby might die or be brain damaged.'' Six other 
     physicians she consulted said the same thing: She had to 
     terminate her pregnancy and get into chemotherapy 
     immediately. ``I left every visit crying,'' she says.
       After a truly agonizing first trimester, Lynette got a 
     referral from a family friend that

[[Page E1957]]

     led her to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), in 
     Zion, Illinois, which was 75 miles from her home in Menomonee 
     Falls, Wisconsin. ``At the CTCA I met doctors and medical 
     personnel who treated me with respect and compassion.''
       Advice to others: If you're not getting the answers you 
     want, keep searching. While going to see more than six 
     doctors may seem crazy, it might be necessary, says Lynette. 
     She was not satisfied until she found a place that would 
     treat her the way she wanted to be treated. She decided to go 
     with fractionated-dose chemotherapy (smaller doses of chemo 
     over a greater length of time), which was considered gentler 
     for both her and her unborn baby. ``They also allowed me to 
     refuse antinausea medication and steroids, to avoid exposing 
     my baby to those drugs,'' she says.
       Life goes on: Lynette gave birth to a healthy baby boy on 
     August 31, 1998. ``When I held Frankie for the first time, I 
     just thought, We did it!'' Frankie continues to thrive and 
     Lynette has been in remission for eight years now.

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