Oklahoma Senate
Breast Cancer Awareness Day celebrated at State Capitol
Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre presides over the Senate during the consideration
Breast cancer survivor, Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre celebrates passage of SCR 40.
Hundreds of breast cancer survivors and patients along with their friends and families and other Oklahomans interested in learning about the disease gathered at the State Capitol Tuesday for the 4th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre and Rep. Tommy Hardin co-chaired the educational event.
Being a five-year breast cancer survivor, Eason McIntyre knows the importance of early detection, which is why she has hosted the event ever since finding out she had breast cancer in 2006.
“I was one of the lucky ones whose cancer was detected early enough because I have mammograms on a regular basis and my life was saved. Too many women don’t realize that one in eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime and how early detection is usually the only thing that can save their life,” said Eason McIntyre. “Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women, and is projected to claim the lives of more than 39,000 women this year.
Hopefully, this event will help save the life of someone’s grandmother, mother, sister, aunt or friend.”
More than 20 businesses and organizations from around the state had displays in the fourth floor rotunda with information on detection and prevention as well as treatment options, medical assistance and a variety of other information for patients and survivors.
Helping raise awareness about the disease is also very important to Rep. Tommy Hardin whose wife is a breast cancer survivor.
“Having been a caregiver during my wife's battle with breast cancer, I have seen firsthand the scars that it causes. Not only the physical scars, but the ones that are much deeper, the emotional scars. That's why I agreed to co-chair the Breast Cancer Awareness Day,” said Hardin, R-Madill. “We need to find a cure for all forms of cancer!”
In recognition of the special event, the Senate and House approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 40. Eason McIntyre was allowed to preside over the Senate during the consideration of the resolution.
