Eliminating Breast Cancer

By Ginny Finch

MYTH: Early detection of breast cancer saves lives.
FACT: If the cancer is caught within a very limited window of time, it can make a difference for a small number of women.               
MYTH: Breast tissue can be completely removed.
FACT: ”Breast tissue has an enormous range, so there’s  no way all of it can be removed.
 
“It’s not breast cancer that kills people—it’s metastasis,” the Rev. Kathryn Johnson reminded adult ed.  “And we don’t know how to prevent metastasis.”

Johnson, field manager at the National Breast Cancer Coalition, told Dumbartonians about  the organization’s “Breast Cancer Deadline 2020”—an effort to support evidence-based research that will end breast cancer by January 1, 2020. The initiative represents a change in focus from breast cancer detection and treatment to breast cancer prevention and  cure.

”We’ve made a lot of progress in understanding breast cancer and in prolonging the life of cancer patients,” Johnson said, “but since we still don’t know the cause of this disease, we can’t prevent it.” Under the initiative—and for the first time--the coalition is leveraging money to support seed grants for research not traditionally funded. According to Johnson, the organization is also continuing to involve breast cancer patients in decision making and to advocate for access to quality health care.