Shelley Berkley: “almost everyone has a family member, a friend or a co-worker who has been personally affected by breast cancer. This…”

“almost everyone has a family member, a friend or a co-worker who has been personally affected by breast cancer. This year, 1,400 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and 300 women will die from this devastating disease in my State of Nevada. Two of my closest professional associates, two women who I work with every day, won their battle against breast cancer; they are cancer free. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. I lost my own mother this past July after her 14-year battle against breast cancer. From these battles I have learn the importance of mammography screening and early detection which have led to higher survival rates. Nevada has the lowest percentage of mammograms performed per capita than any other State in the country, only 65 percent of Nevada women age 40 and over have had mammograms within the last 2 years; this leaves 35 percent of the women in Nevada without any necessary information to arm themselves against this disease and the ability to fight it early on. We must continue to get the word out to women that early detection in the fight against breast cancer is critical.”