With pink water shooting into the sky behind her, Pennsylvania?s first lady Susan Corbett recited the statistics that explain why turning the Capitol fountain pink every October is more than just a pretty sight.
Every day, 32 Pennsylvania women are diagnosed with breast cancer. In a year, that?s 12,000 women. Of those, 2,000 lose the battle.
They are someone?s mother, sister, aunt, daughter, friend or co-worker.
?We all have people that we love, that we know who have been touched by breast cancer,? Corbett said at a Monday news conference kicking off Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
For the first lady, that person was her mother, whose first mammogram when she was in her late 60s showed evidence of breast cancer, Corbett said. Her mother, who turns 93 this month, beat the disease as well as another cancer scare.
?So I hope that for everyone that passes the fountain today ... remember that you do have a chance to fight this disease through early detection, through mammograms and please talk to the women in your life to make sure they are taking precautions,? said Corbett, honorary chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.
Joining her at the awareness month kickoff was former first lady Michele Ridge, who followed in the footsteps of previous first ladies who have held the honorary post of the coalition founded by Pat Halpin-Murphy.
Halpin-Murphy credited the first ladies with using their positions to further the coalition?s work in raising awareness about funding for, education about and protecting women from the disease.
Ridge and Corbett, in turn, spoke at length about Murphy?s commitment to the cause that has helped spur legislative action to address breast cancer.
That includes laws that provide for free treatment for women with breast cancer who are uninsured or underinsured, funding for breast cancer research through a check off on state income tax returns that allow people to donate all or part of their tax refund to it, and the requirement for insurers to cover the cost of mammograms and reconstructive surgery.
Ridge thanked Halpin-Murphy and the first coalition honorary chairwoman, former first lady Ellen Casey, for being a role model ?for speaking publicly about this once very private issue.?
One of Ridge?s fondest memories from her days as first lady came in October 2001 after her husband, former Gov. Tom Ridge, had been called by then-President Bush to head up the homeland security office in Washington, D.C. She said sitting by the fountain on an evening that fall to mark the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, ?illuminated in a way all that we had tried to achieve on women?s health issues and surrounded us with so many grateful survivors ... It reinforced our belief in how much we can do to help and how many people we can reach.?
Part of the coalition?s annual celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month includes a conference that draws about 1,000 people. This year?s will be held Oct. 9 at the Hilton Harrisburg. To register or get more information, contact 1-800-377-8828, extension 104 or visit pbcc.me/Reg.
Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/10/post_436.html
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