Symptoms of ovarian cancer : Johanna’s Law
Every 6.4 minutes, a woman in the U.S. is diagnosed with a form of gynecologic cancer such as ovarian or uterine cancer. This year, 28,000 American women are expected to die from these cancers. In the last ten years alone, over 250,000 of our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, and dear friends have lost their lives to these diseases.
This is a national tragedy magnified by the fact that the most common gynecologic cancers --- ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer --- have 5-year survival rates exceeding 90 percent when diagnosed at their earliest stages. Unfortunately, thousands of women in the U.S. every year are diagnosed after their cancers have progressed to more advanced stages when survival rates are far lower.
Johanna’s Law: The Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act aims to change this deadly status quo. Sponsored by Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CN), Kay Granger (R-TX), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Sander Levin (D-MI) and endorsed by organizations representing over 300,000 physicians, nurses, cancer survivors and women, Johanna’s Law would create a federal campaign of gynecologic cancer education designed to improve early detection.
Johanna’s Law is named after my sister Johanna Silver Gordon, a dynamic woman and former schoolteacher, who lost her life to ovarian cancer. Despite being a health conscious woman who visited the gynecologist regularly, Johanna did not know the symptoms of ovarian cancer until after she was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease. Not knowing the symptoms contributed to a delay in her diagnosis.
Tragically, Johanna’s story is all too common. Thousands of women in the U.S. each year are stunned not only to be diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer --- but to learn that the symptoms they experienced prior to their diagnoses were common symptoms of these cancers. A pervasive lack of knowledge about gynecologic cancer symptoms commonly leads to lengthy delays in diagnosis as women are evaluated for and/or diagnosed with various non-lethal conditions before the correct diagnosis is made.
Johanna’s Law seeks to end the life-threatening information gap that has led to so much suffering and so many deaths. By educating America’s women about gynecologic cancer symptoms and risk factors, Johanna’s Law can help women experiencing symptoms seek appropriate medical help quickly, increasing the potential for earlier detection. Women possessing risk factors can take steps to lower their risk. By also devoting resources to educating physicians, Johanna’s Law will enhance the limited exposure to gynecologic cancer patients most physicians receive during their training, making it more likely gynecologic cancers will be considered as possible causes of certain symptoms, along with the less lethal conditions so often assumed to cause them.
Over 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have already decided to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. More co-sponsors are needed, however, to give Johanna’s Law the best chance of passing this year.
Please join this important effort to save women’s lives by asking your member of the House to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. With just the tools at your fingertips --- the telephone, fax, or computer --- you can play a critical role in bringing life-saving facts to millions of women at risk for gynecologic cancers.
How better to honor the hundreds of thousands of American women lost to these cancers and the courage of those still struggling to survive them? How better to exercise the freedoms of this democracy than by making your voice heard on Capitol Hill?
Sheryl Silver, Founder/President
Johanna’s Law Alliance for Women’s Cancer Awareness
This is a national tragedy magnified by the fact that the most common gynecologic cancers --- ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer --- have 5-year survival rates exceeding 90 percent when diagnosed at their earliest stages. Unfortunately, thousands of women in the U.S. every year are diagnosed after their cancers have progressed to more advanced stages when survival rates are far lower.
Johanna’s Law: The Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act aims to change this deadly status quo. Sponsored by Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CN), Kay Granger (R-TX), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Sander Levin (D-MI) and endorsed by organizations representing over 300,000 physicians, nurses, cancer survivors and women, Johanna’s Law would create a federal campaign of gynecologic cancer education designed to improve early detection.
Johanna’s Law is named after my sister Johanna Silver Gordon, a dynamic woman and former schoolteacher, who lost her life to ovarian cancer. Despite being a health conscious woman who visited the gynecologist regularly, Johanna did not know the symptoms of ovarian cancer until after she was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease. Not knowing the symptoms contributed to a delay in her diagnosis.
Tragically, Johanna’s story is all too common. Thousands of women in the U.S. each year are stunned not only to be diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer --- but to learn that the symptoms they experienced prior to their diagnoses were common symptoms of these cancers. A pervasive lack of knowledge about gynecologic cancer symptoms commonly leads to lengthy delays in diagnosis as women are evaluated for and/or diagnosed with various non-lethal conditions before the correct diagnosis is made.
Johanna’s Law seeks to end the life-threatening information gap that has led to so much suffering and so many deaths. By educating America’s women about gynecologic cancer symptoms and risk factors, Johanna’s Law can help women experiencing symptoms seek appropriate medical help quickly, increasing the potential for earlier detection. Women possessing risk factors can take steps to lower their risk. By also devoting resources to educating physicians, Johanna’s Law will enhance the limited exposure to gynecologic cancer patients most physicians receive during their training, making it more likely gynecologic cancers will be considered as possible causes of certain symptoms, along with the less lethal conditions so often assumed to cause them.
Over 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have already decided to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. More co-sponsors are needed, however, to give Johanna’s Law the best chance of passing this year.
Please join this important effort to save women’s lives by asking your member of the House to co-sponsor Johanna’s Law. With just the tools at your fingertips --- the telephone, fax, or computer --- you can play a critical role in bringing life-saving facts to millions of women at risk for gynecologic cancers.
How better to honor the hundreds of thousands of American women lost to these cancers and the courage of those still struggling to survive them? How better to exercise the freedoms of this democracy than by making your voice heard on Capitol Hill?
Sheryl Silver, Founder/President
Johanna’s Law Alliance for Women’s Cancer Awareness
