Editor’s Corner November 6, 2007
Posted by susiel in News, Opinion & Editorial.trackback
In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, first lady Laura Bush is in the Middle East meeting women there to help the program’s message. Breast cancer is a serious disease for women all around the world—it’s one of the leading fatal diseases for women—but especially for women in Saudi Arabia, where a social stigma is attached to the disease. Many women fear seeing male doctors so much that they refuse to be seen for a diagnosis. One woman was even divorced when her husband suspected she had the disease.
Thirty percent of breast cancer patients are under age 40, and over 70 percent of cases are not diagnosed until a later stage, according to Donna Abu-Nasr of the Associated Press.
Laura Bush’s mother and grandmother were both victims of breast cancer, which is why this trip to support breast cancer awareness is so important to her. She arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, visited Saudi Arabia Tuesday, will visit Kuwait on Thursday, and Jordan Friday. She is helping with campaigns to make women in the Middle East more aware of breast cancer and to offer them the resources they need to prevent the disease.
Accompanying the first lady is ABC News anchor Robin Roberts, who is also currently battling breast cancer.
By Susie LeJeune
Having the illness is a real struggle. I have a history of it in my family. I’m a community ambassador with Pantene Beautiful Lengths, and together we are trying to gather 1 million inches of hair to provide wigs for women dealing with chemo related hair loss. We come in and deliver these wigs to these women and hopefully try and rebuild their confidence to give them a fighting chance in overcoming this serious illness, and the depression it can cause. If you are interested in donating or pledging please visit this site http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/million_inch/million_inch_qa.jsp
Help support this amazing cause!