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SOUTH CAROLINA BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS AND ADVOCATES CALL ON STATE TO NIX SCREENING CUTS
Susan G. Komen Affiliates Urge State Leaders to Spare Neediest Women from Budget Cuts

Greenville, SC – May 21, 2010– Breast cancer survivors and advocates from the South Carolina Mountains to Midlands Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® signaled their alarm today at proposed cuts to South Carolina’s Best Chance Network program for next fiscal year, which would effectively deny access to breast cancer screening services for 8,000 low-income, uninsured and under-insured women. 

“We fully understand the tough economic situation our elected leaders face and the difficult choices they must make,” said Krista E. Bannister, a breast cancer survivor and Executive Director of the SC Mountains to Midlands Affiliate of Susan G. Komen.  “Yet balancing the budget on the backs of our state’s neediest women is a mistake.  We must not deny women who have very few options and limited resources access to screening and treatment services that may save their lives.”

The Best Chance Network is a part of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and implemented through the S. C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and the American Cancer Society. The program will serve about 16,000 women in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Early detection of breast cancer is key to surviving the disease.  When breast cancer is detected early, the 5-year relative survival rate is 98 percent, but declines to 84 percent for regional disease and 23 percent when cancer has spread to other parts of the body. 

“Many of the women who rely on this vital safety net program will have nowhere else to go for affordable, potentially life-saving breast health services,” said Tammy Van Gieson, SC Mountains to Midlands Affiliate Board President.  “As a result, cancers that would have been detected by the program may go undiagnosed for months, maybe years — leading to larger tumors, more advanced cancers and lower survival rates.  This is literally a matter of life and death.”

“Ensuring access to effective, affordable screening to all women is a critical component of the South Carolina Cancer Plan and its goal of decreasing the impact of cancer across the state,” said South Carolina Cancer Alliance (SCCA) Executive Director Don Simmons.  “The evidence is strong that screening and early detection have been instrumental in eliminating needless deaths from cancer; elimination of any funding for the BCN would clearly be a step in the wrong direction.”

In South Carolina, an estimated 2,820 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed among women in 2009, and 640 women died of the disease.

“With the help of those who participate in our annual Race for the Cure®, and the other fundraising programs we do, we are doing our best to fill the needs of women in our communities. However, we cannot do it alone,” said Bannister.  “In this economic crisis, when women have lost their jobs and insurance, the State’s support of these vital programs is crucial.”