[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 26833-26834]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to speak as we have just 
concluded Breast Cancer Awareness Month. During October, about 16,000 
more women heard the news all women dread, ``You have breast cancer.'' 
That is over 190,000 women this year. Among women between 35 and 54 
years of age, no disease claims more lives. In more personal terms, an 
American woman faces a one in nine chance of sitting down and hearing 
those words from her physician. At that moment everything changes.
  We can be thankful that more women are surviving this diagnosis. 
Modern treatments and early detection are saving lives. Many of my 
colleagues have joined with me in supporting research into better 
diagnosis and treatment. Just last month, we learned of a new drug 
treatment which substantially reduced the recurrence of breast cancer. 
We have made great strides, and I am grateful to the many researchers 
who fight long hours battling this disease. And we sometimes forget the 
men and women who, while suffering the effects of breast cancer, have 
volunteered in these studies, at a time when they are already going 
through such a struggle. We owe all of them our gratitude for the 
strides we have made in fighting this disease.
  Despite this progress, one in every five women diagnosed still will 
not survive breast cancer. Modern treatments are useless without a 
diagnosis. With early detection and treatment, death and injury can be 
so greatly reduced. I call on American women today to take the 
initiative. Many women have been taught to do self-exams, and while 
they can help, they are no substitute for a mammogram. I urge you now 
to ask your physician about a mammogram. Mammograms saves lives.
  But maybe you have put it off: you can't miss work, or the kids have 
an event, or maybe, well, the previous mammograms were OK, so you think 
you are probably fine. Instead, think of missing other things, such as 
your child's graduation, those anniversaries with your spouse, or doing 
any of the things we too often take for granted, just due to making the 
visit a bit too late.
  When a woman receives bad news she is facing so many worries--the 
threat to her life. She first asks, Will I survive this? Then she asks 
how she will survive. What will they do to me? The fortunate woman has 
her loved ones, her family, her friends to stand by and support her. 
But she needs more.
  When the news is bad, we can make the battle easier. I have recently 
reintroduced legislation to ensure that.

[[Page 26834]]

The Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 2003, S. 1730, will provide 
the assurances women need.
  No woman with breast cancer should be subjected to substandard care. 
A woman should be confident in her diagnosis and every cancer patient 
deserves a second opinion. S. 1730 ensures that. Every woman should be 
offered treatment options, including inpatient care. Every woman should 
have adequate time to recover. It is time to recognize that the best 
judgment comes from the expert physician working with the patient. The 
last question a woman should have to worry about when facing breast 
cancer is whether or not her health insurance plan will pay for 
appropriate care after a mastectomy of lumpectomy, or that she won't be 
able to remain in her doctor's immediate care for as long as she needs 
to be.
  The evidence for the need for this bill, especially when it comes to 
so-called ``drive through mastectomies,'' is more than just 
allegorical. Indeed, the facts speak for themselves. Between 1986 and 
1995, the average length of stay for a mastectomy dropped from about 6 
days to about 2 to 3 days.
  Many of my colleagues have joined with me in working for better 
screening, research, and improved treatment. This issue of treatment 
and ensuring standards of care have been introduced and discussed. We 
have had hearings back in the 105th Congress. And in the intervening 
years, well over a million more women faced those words, ``You have 
breast cancer''. Women, and their loved ones, deserve more.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill and work 
towards passing it this year.
  (At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered 
to be printed in the Record.)
 Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. President, I rise to acknowledge October as 
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This gives us an opportunity to 
remember the millions of victims and their families affected by breast 
cancer. More than 6,000 individuals in North Carolina are diagnosed 
each year with breast cancer, and 1,100 of them die as a result. Across 
the country, one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer 
during their lifetime. This is a tragedy, and we must do more to treat 
it and find a cure.
  As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, I want to share 
the story of an extraordinary family in Goldsboro, who has been 
impacted by this disease in the most devastating and tragic sense. 
Willie and Mittie Darden, are the parents of 15 children. When Mr. 
Darden passed away in 1976, Mrs. Darden, known to her friends and 
family as Mit, became the head of the Darden family. As you can 
imagine, family gatherings at her home are always large, loving, and 
filled with joy.
  Mit has always been a woman of the deepest faith. Being a life-long 
member of Darden Chapel Free Will Baptist Church, her faith was the 
underpinning of the strength she needed to endure the loss of two 
children to childhood illness. No doubt the pain was tremendous. Years 
later this pillar of strength for her family and community would endure 
the harshest of fates as she would lose four daughters to breast 
cancer. They were Hattie Williams, Louise Darden, Bertha Bennett, and 
Ann Bryant.
  Hattie Williams was the mother of one daughter and had four 
grandchildren. She spent 20 years in the Wayne County School System as 
a Head Start teacher, later becoming the owner and operator of her own 
day care center. On her 50th birthday, March 24, 1993, Mrs. Williams 
invited her family to visit her. Her family recounts that she spent the 
evening walking the halls with them as she sang and gave thanks to God 
for her life and her family. Two days later at dawn she passed away.
  Louise Darden, nicknamed Lou Lou, was the mother of four children and 
a grandmother of four. She, too, was a Head Start teacher. Ms. Darden 
was also an avid cook and was responsible for designing the t-shirts 
for the family reunions. As her illness worsened, it was she who gave 
strength and comfort to her family. She truly felt we are spiritual 
beings going through a human experience. She transitioned this life on 
March 2, 1998.
  Bertha Bennett is remembered as the life of the party to her family. 
She spent most of her adult life in Washington, D.C., where she was a 
mother of three children and a grandmother of nine. Family members say 
that the teachings of her parents, rooted in the church, are what 
caused her to overcome alcohol dependency and become a devout Jehovah 
Witness. Mrs. Bennett, called Bert by her family, served as a source of 
inspiration to her family and countless friends. Her family was 
visiting her here in Washington at a hospice when word was sent to them 
that Ann was being moved to a hospice in Goldsboro as she, too, was 
fighting breast cancer. By the time the family returned home to North 
Carolina, they learned Bert had died. It was May 12, 2000.
  Ann Bryant had taken over the duties as family secretary and 
organizer after the death of her sister Hattie in 1993. The mother of 
five children and six grandchildren, Ann spent her adult life caring 
for others as a home hospice care nurse. When eastern North Carolina 
was hit by catastrophic floods, Ann spent considerable time making sure 
her family and friends had adequate housing. Her family says that her 
concern for others was so great that she was working on that project 
until the breast cancer had claimed her, 2 days after her sister Bert 
had passed away. It was May 14, 2000, Mother's Day.
  On Mother's Day 2000, Mittie Coley Darden was a mother grieving yet 
again over the loss of not one but two more daughters to breast cancer. 
All of these women were wives, mothers, grandmothers, and friends. 
Words could not describe her anguish. Her faith sustained her though. 
She is the rock upon which others drew strength. It is in her tragedy 
that others in her church and community have become more aware of the 
importance of organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, where 
early detection and awareness programs are stressed. It is the story of 
her daughters that motivates others to participate in events like the 
Race for the Cure and to give of their resources to this cause.
  Many of those who learn of Mit Darden's daughters are touched by the 
immense loss but are moved to action. I, too, am deeply touched and 
inspired. Very recently another of Mrs. Darden's daughter's was 
diagnosed with breast cancer. It was discovered very early through one 
of her regular screenings. Her doctors say that it was discovered in 
time and she has already started treatment. Through it all Mit Darden 
is ever faithful and prays that others will never have to endure what 
she has. She only wants to share what we all hope and pray for--a cure.
  I am proud to have led several efforts in Congress with ways to help 
reach that goal and help women who are diagnosed. The bipartisan 
Patient Protection Act that passed the Senate last year allows women to 
choose an OB/GYN as a primary care physician. The bill also requires 
health insurers to cover hospital stays for breast cancer treatment 
procedures. In the 106th Congress, I joined many of my colleagues in 
cosponsoring and passing legislation that gives Federal matching 
Medicaid dollars to provide breast and cervical cancer-related 
treatment. This law was an important step in ensuring that individuals 
suffering from breast cancer have access to modern treatment and 
technology regardless of their income level.
  On behalf of Mit Darden and her daughters, and all the women and 
their friends and families affected by breast cancer, we must continue 
the fight against this disease with compassion and action. I urge my 
colleagues to join me.

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