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House Approves Breast Cancer Awareness Resolution

On October 28, the House passed, by voice vote, H. Res. 787, a resolution supporting the designation of October 13, 2009, as National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

Sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

  • metastatic breast cancer refers to stage-IV breast cancer when cancer cells travel from the breast, either through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system, to other parts of the body, including the bones, liver, lungs, or brain, and continue to grow in their new location;
  • nearly 30 percent of women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer will develop stage-IV advanced or metastatic breast cancer;
  • in developing countries, the majority of women with breast cancer are diagnosed with advanced stage or metastatic disease;
  • the statistic that 155,000 women and men are presently living with metastatic breast cancer in the United States underscores the immediate need for increased public awareness;
  • there currently is no cure for metastatic breast cancer, and metastatic breast cancer frequently involves trying one treatment after another with the goal of extending the best quality of life as possible; and
  • Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day emphasizes the urgent need for new, targeted breast cancer treatments that will provide a high quality of life and long life expectancy for patients by making stage-IV cancer a chronic, but not fatal disease.

The resolution “encourages all people in the United States to become more informed and aware of metastatic breast cancer.”