Statement by the First Lady in a Discussion at the Mexican Association Against Breast Cancer
MEXICO CITY--(Business Wire)--
MRS. BUSH: Well, it is really important to have the mobile
mammography units as well. I know in rural parts of our state, in
Texas and Arizona and those states that have very remote and rural
communities without really good medical care -- maybe a clinic -- that
the rural -- that those mammography units that drive around and make a
-- have a very systematic route so that they get to every community
once a year, and people at least can get a mammogram.
But then, of course, where they go after that is also a problem in
the United States.
I don't know if you all have this as your last picture, but this
doctor right here, from Saudi Arabia in the black robe with the pink
ribbons, her husband left her when she was diagnosed with breast
cancer. But her two children have written books for other children
about what to expect if your mother is diagnosed with breast cancer.
And she's been very active in Saudi Arabia, reaching out to women who
also are -- would never admit if they had breast cancer, both because
of the stigma and because they are afraid their husbands would leave
them. But that's part of this whole idea of the partnership and the
Susan G. Komen Foundation and training community workers, and that is
to reduce the stigma. People don't get breast cancer because they did
something wrong, and it's not contagious. No one is going to catch it
from you. And we really need to educate people -- and men need to be
educated, too.
White House Press Office
1-202-456-2580
Copyright Business Wire 2008
