I couldn’t let the year go by without sharing at least one post about breast cancer. I’ve always been pretty vocal when it comes to encouraging loved ones to get their annual mammogram. Let’s be honest mammograms can be uncomfortable but truth is they don’t hurt. So when I stood crying uncontrollably at my recent mammogram, shortly after the tech snapped the first image and the plates lifted form my smushed breast, the tech assumed I was in physical pain. However, my tears were for my dearest friend who lost her battle with breast cancer.
Let’s be clear mammograms saves lives. Early detection saves lives. I know a young lady who had gained health insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act. She had gone for several months without health insurance due to a job loss. She worked full time but couldn’t afford the health insurance plan offered by her job. Her kids were covered by Medicaid but she didn’t have insurance and didn’t worry for she thought she was, for the most part, in pretty good health. Her healthcare was limited to visits to the E.R. when she felt really, really bad.
One day while at a health fair, she signed up to get a mammogram. It was her first. A couple of days later, she received a phone call that would change her life forever… she had breast cancer. Early detection saved her life.
This is the story I hear most often. A mammogram saved someone’s life. Yet even still according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. 1 in 8. My best friend’s mom passed away from breast cancer just shy of her 50th birthday. I even know of friends of friends who lost their battle with breast cancer. My friend’s mom was the only person I’d ever known to die from breast cancer. Everyone I knew was a breast cancer SURVIVOR.
That all changed one day in June 2018. Just shy of her 50th birthday, only a few weeks after hearing her diagnosis, my best friend passed away. Around the age her mom was when she died.
Standing there gripping the machine as it snapped pics I was overcome with grief thinking of my beloved childhood friend. I miss her so much.
The Affordable Care Act requires plans to offer mammograms as a preventive care benefits with no cost sharing to beneficiaries. If you do not have insurance, consider signing up for a plan at www.healthcare.gov or contact your local health department to see if free mammogram services are available.
Mammograms STILL save lives. A mammogram didn’t save my friend but it may save your friend’s life… it may save yours.
Let’s be clear mammograms saves lives. Early detection saves lives. I know a young lady who had gained health insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act. She had gone for several months without health insurance due to a job loss. She worked full time but couldn’t afford the health insurance plan offered by her job. Her kids were covered by Medicaid but she didn’t have insurance and didn’t worry for she thought she was, for the most part, in pretty good health. Her healthcare was limited to visits to the E.R. when she felt really, really bad.
One day while at a health fair, she signed up to get a mammogram. It was her first. A couple of days later, she received a phone call that would change her life forever… she had breast cancer. Early detection saved her life.
This is the story I hear most often. A mammogram saved someone’s life. Yet even still according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. 1 in 8. My best friend’s mom passed away from breast cancer just shy of her 50th birthday. I even know of friends of friends who lost their battle with breast cancer. My friend’s mom was the only person I’d ever known to die from breast cancer. Everyone I knew was a breast cancer SURVIVOR.
That all changed one day in June 2018. Just shy of her 50th birthday, only a few weeks after hearing her diagnosis, my best friend passed away. Around the age her mom was when she died.
Standing there gripping the machine as it snapped pics I was overcome with grief thinking of my beloved childhood friend. I miss her so much.
The Affordable Care Act requires plans to offer mammograms as a preventive care benefits with no cost sharing to beneficiaries. If you do not have insurance, consider signing up for a plan at www.healthcare.gov or contact your local health department to see if free mammogram services are available.
Mammograms STILL save lives. A mammogram didn’t save my friend but it may save your friend’s life… it may save yours.
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