From: The United States Congress

HOUSE MEMBERS INTRODUCE BREAST CANCER DETECTION ACT TO MAKE BREAST SELF-EXAM AID WIDELY AVAILABLE TO AMERICAN WOMEN

Washington, D.C. ­ U. S. Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich (R-Nev. 2nd) today introduced legislation that would give thousands of American women an extra tool in the early detection of breast lumps by making a small plastic pad that can be used as an aid in breast self-exams (BSE) directly available to American women.

Vucanovich, a breast cancer survivor, said the device...can be added as an extra step women take when they do their monthly BSEs. “We have no cure for cancer, and the best hope for survival is early detection and early treatment,” Vucanovich said. “The Breast Chek pad gives women another tool in early detection and should become a part of every woman’s monthly BSE routine.”

The Vucanovich bill, entitled the Breast Cancer Detection Act, would allow Breast Chek to be available without a prescription, making it easily obtainable and widely accessible to all American women. Original cosponsors are Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas-6th), John Meyers (R-Ind-7th), Bill Baker (R-Calif.-10th), Richard Burr (R-N.C.-5th), and Glen Poshard (D-Ill.-19th). It is supported by the breast cancer support group Y-Me and thousands of women throughout the nation.

Note: The Breast Chek Aid is now fully registered as a medical device and approved for over-the-counter sale throughout the free world.

From: The Whitehouse:

"Thank you also for sending a sample of the breast cancer detection aid. I am grateful for your efforts to educate women about the importance of the early detection of breast cancer and to encourage them to take charge of their health."

With best wishes,
Laura Bush

From Good Housekeeping Magazine:

Mark Haas bought the (Breast Chek) pad for his wife, and she used it the same day ­ even though her annual mammogram, taken only six weeks earlier, had been normal. Haas was stunned when she found a pea-sized lump in her right breast. "I couldn’t believe it", she says. "My husband thought I was imagining things." When she prodded her breast using her fingers alone, she, too, thought maybe she was imagining things since she could barely feel the lump. But when she used the (Breast Chek) pad, there it was. "It felt like a pebble,” she recalls. Haas made an appointment with her doctor, who was able to find the lump with her fingers after she pointed it out. A biopsy confirmed that the lump was malignant. Fortunately, Haas had detected the cancer so early that it hadn’t had a chance to spread..."I’m sure I’m alive today because of the (Breast Chek) pad," Haas says.

...mammograms miss 10-15 percent of all cancers. "That’s why it’s important that women have every tool possible,"Dr. Redmond says. Dr. Patricia Redmond, M.D. director of radiology at Staten Island University Hospital, New York City.

From: Good Housekeeping Magazine

Carole Withers, 50, of Durango, CO, found two pre-cancerous nodules in her left breast while using a Breast Chek Aid that her husband, a doctor, brought home from the clinic where he worked. Even her doctor was unable to find the lumps without it. "As women, we have to take responsibility for our own bodies", said Withers.

From: Good Housekeeping Magazine

Mary Daly Gorman, 56, a writer from Chevy Chase, MD, found a lump in her breast...while using a Breast Chek Aid. Gorman’s surgeon, Katherine Alley, MD. said, "When I did her biopsy, I had to keep checking to make sure I had the right spot ­ that’s how small it was."

From: The Wall Street Journal

Dr. Withers, a surgeon at Maui Clinic, says the Breast Chek Aid has twice enabled him to feel otherwise undetectable lumps. "There is no question that the Breast Chek Aid increases tactile ability", he says "it makes an exam 100% easier."

From: The Wall Street Journal

Gale Katterhagen, medical director of the cancer center at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA, says test he conducted indicated that women who used the Breast Chek Aid were 22% more likely to perform monthly breast self-exams.

From: The Wall Street Journal

Women who use the Breast Chek Aid swear by it. Ms Richardson, a 43 year-old Decatur resident, doubts she would have found two small lumps without the aid. She had a double mastectomy. "It probably saved my life", she says, adding that she gave one to her 19 year-old daughter.

From: Women’s Health Specialists, Dorcas McLennan, MD, OB/GYN

"...I understand the need for this type of device on the market for both physicians and consumers alike. I can already see how the Breast Chek Aid will help me when I demonstrate to my patients how to perform a breast examination. When I hand the aid to them after the checkup to take home, I am confident that the increased sensitivity provided by the Breast Chek Aid will result in more frequent and thorough self-exams...I look forward to helping spread the word about the Breast Chek Aid and its importance in the breast self-examination process...I will share this with my patients, friends and loved ones alike."

From Senator Penny Severns, Illinois / Herald & Review, Decatur, Il

Sen. Severns, who found a small cancer in July but thinks the Breast Chek Aid might have helped her find it earlier, said just having the device at home will remind women to check their breasts. "Whatever we can do to promote awareness and self-examination, coupled with mammograms, we must do," said Severns.

Breast Chek® was originally branded the Sensor Pad.