Restore funding for cancer screenings

As we take some time this season to raise awareness about treating and preventing breast cancer, it’s important to remember that many women do not have access to mammography. In fact, only 26 percent of uninsured women over 40 have had a screening in the past year.

We can help change those statistics by asking Congress to properly fund a breast and cervical screening program run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the past 20 years, this program has provided more than 10 million screenings to more than 4 million women. Right now, lack of funding currently limits access to screenings to one in five eligible women and, on top of that, the recent sequester is threatening access to an additional 32,000 screenings for women nationwide — including 1,100 in Illinois.

As a husband, father, uncle and grandfather, I urge Congress to restore funding for cancer prevention and make access to lifesaving screenings and treatments for women a priority.

Stephen Egan

Rolling Meadows

Illinois volunteer

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network