HB 115 would help with the cost of breast exams

(WTVQ) — According to the National Cancer Institute, Breast Cancer is the second most common cancer in women only after Skin Cancer, and about 13% of women will be diagnosed with it in their lifetime.

But new legislation introduced in the Kentucky House  could help women in the state get the cost of their breast exams covered.

“I balled, knew my life was done. The word cancer scared me to death,” recalls Linda Boyd, about her breast cancer diagnosis.

“Breast Cancer doesn’t run in my family. I often say that it sprints,” adds Jessica Baladad, who is also a breast Cancer survivor.

Boyd and Baladad are survivors of a disease that’s become the second most common type of Cancer, Breast Cancer.

“When I was 18 years old and I was a student at Western Kentucky University. I accidentally found a lump in my breast while taking a shower. It was a benign tumor, I had to have it removed. But that experience put me into the habit of performing monthly self exams,” adds Baladad.

A habit that would also save Jessica’s life, “15 years later, I had just turned 33, I’m in the shower. I do a self exam and I find a lump two days prior to finding that lump. I had just gone to the doctor, she performed a clinical exam of my breast, didn’t say anything to me about it, when I pulled my medical record, she marked everything as normal. I went and saw another medical provider who did refer me for a screening and it was about four months later, I was diagnosed with stage two B invasive ductal carcinoma, breast cancer.”

For Jessica, Breast Cancer is a disease that slowly affected other members of her family.

“I’m the fourth generation, on my paternal, my dad’s side of the family who’s been diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s been me, two aunts, my grandmother, six of her sisters, a couple of their daughters and my great grandmother, 14 women all together on my dad’s side of the family had been diagnosed with breast cancer,” she says.

Meantime, Linda Boyd was adamant about having annual breast exams, but in one visit, her life was turned upside down.
Boyd made the decision to have a double mastectomy to prevent it from coming back.

“Nobody knows until you are a survivor or you’re going through it, what each day means to that person, especially going through three different cancers. You know, I’m so thankful. I can’t tell my kids I love them enough,” says Linda.

House Bill 115 introduced this session by two representatives would cover the costs of breast exams, an effort to help save lives with early detection.

“I think health care should be free. I really do. My, my daughter was so afraid after I got the breast cancer that she thought she had the gene and she went and got checked and, to make sure she didn’t,” added Linda.

Just last month, Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman announced that with a significant history of cancer in her family and concerns during a routine physical exam, she made the decision to undergo a double mastectomy.