A special message.

In January, my wife Jennifer's mammogram detected a small lump. It was nothing, we all figured, and she had it removed. To our surprise, it was malignant, so Jenny went under the knife again to remove more tissue. That surgery, followed by six and a half weeks of radiation treatments, would take care of it.

However, the pathology report from the second surgery was positive, so we changed our plans and Jenny underwent her third surgery in as many weeks – a mastectomy.

We've been living a nightmare, with emotional demands previously unknown to us. But life for us is now beginning to return to normal. We owe a promising future to great medical care, and to modern technology – especially to the mammogram that made a difference.

These days, mammograms are usually recommended beginning at age 40, but Jenny's ob/gyn requires her patients, no matter how young, to get mammograms annually. That turned out to be very fortunate for us.

If you or someone you love should have a mammogram, I urge you to make it happen.

- Feb. 29, 2000