Saturday, July 9, 2011

Thank you Betty

Yesterday Betty Ford died. She was 93 which is a ripe old age if you ask me. In 1974 she talked about breast cancer, her diagnosis and mastectomy. That was 37 years ago if you do the math.

She was the first to bring breast cancer out in public. Before she did, no one talked about it. She deserves a lot of thanks for this. She let her story be told publicly in an article in Time. The results of her going public and tell her story became evident fairly quickly. Two weeks after she talked to Time magazine, Happy Rockefeller, wife of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, did a self examination and discovered lumps and was diagnosed with breast cancer herself. She credited Betty Ford with encouraging her to do a self examination.

She did not die from breast cancer even though she was diagnosed with it.

2 comments:

Renn said...

Thanks for the reminder that Betty Ford had BC 37 years ago. And lived to be 93. Betty rocked!

Elizabeth said...

I agreed. We all owe Betty a big thank you - she brought attention to breast cancer, got the awareness programs sparked and did a lot for women's rights in general
Thank you Betty!

I Started a New Blog

I started this blog when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Blogging really helped me cope with my cancer and its treatment. Howe...