I Beg to Differ

I am not a doctor. I am not a health expert. I have not done extensive clinical research.

I AM the daughter of a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed through a routine mammogram at age 42. She shared her story with us last year.

1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Our country is in the midst of a historic health reform debate in which we are attempting to protect and improve access to primary and preventive services, such as regular breast cancer screenings. It's sad that there are still barriers preventing some women from getting screened. And should any of these women find themselves in my mom's shoes, barriers are also there preventing them from getting the treatments that they need. Mammography is still the best way to catch cancer in it's earliest stages, improving the chances of successful treatment and survival.

So you will understand my disgust with recent headlines such as the one found on US News and World Report yesterday entitled, "Routine Mammograms Before 50: Not Much Point." Ummmmm, not much point? I beg to differ...it's called saving people's lives.

This issue has been all over the news the last few days. But in case you haven't seen the coverage, the U.S. Preventive Service Task Force, an independent medical panel, has released new recommendations that women under the age of 50 should not be routinely screened for breast cancer. This sends a wrong message at a very wrong time.

Breastcancer.org has a good explanation and breakdown of the panel's recommendations here.

These recommendations don't apply to me since I will start getting screened when I'm 32 because of my family history. But my mom had no family history. If she had to wait until age 50 to get her first mammogram, chances are she wouldn't be here today. I am just thankful that my family history was caught early through a routine annual mammogram that was given to a certain woman starting at age 40.

PS- When choosing a title for this post, I wanted something stronger. But when I googled "I Beg to Differ," the first result from Urban Dictionary explains what I really meant:

I Beg to Differ= A nerdy way of saying "what you said was bullshit"