Teresa Heinz reveals breast cancer, slams screening guidelines

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Heinz said she’s undergoing treatment for breast cancer, which was detected during an annual mammogram in late September.

Heinz favors mammography
Using her experience, Heinz urged younger women to continue getting regular mammograms despite recent federal guidelines recommending reducing the frequency of cancer-detecting tests.

In November, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released its widely criticized recommendation urging women to start receiving mammograms at age 50, rather than the long-standing practice of 40.

Heinz, the widow of Sen. John Heinz, heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune, told AP that the cost of mammography is far lower than the physical and personal tolls women aged 40 to 60, face if their cancer goes undetected early. It leads them to have an aggressive chemotherapy for the disease.

“Chemotherapy is serious. It also costs a lot of money. It’s very painful. And it’s very destructive of people’s – most people’s – lives for a while, anyway. So why put people through that instead of just having a test that’s done, and it’s done?” Heinz told the AP during the interview.

“So that’s why I was so upset about that decision of this panel,” she said.

Treated for stage one cancer
In a commentary published Wednesday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Heinz revealed she was diagnosed and treated for stage one cancer in both breasts and has had two operations to battle the disease.

“The cancer was detected at an early stage thanks to a mammogram and the work of a remarkable physician who insisted on investigating beyond what the mammogram could show,” she said.

Heinz continued her prognosis for a full recovery is “good.”

Heinz stands against revised guidelines
Heinz's decision to break her two months of silence was prompted by opposition of revised mammogram guidelines. These guidelines advise mammograms for women below age 50 and those more than 74-years-old.

Heinz said new guidelines "struck me as misguided. But these were not ordinary circumstances, at least not for me. Just before the guidelines were released, I had been diagnosed with breast cancer."

“As any woman can attest, mammograms can be nerve racking. And as the government's task force pointed out, they can produce misleading results and anxiety," she said. "But I've been personally reminded that they also can produce something else: a lifesaving early diagnosis.”

Persuades other women to get mammogram
Heinz hoped her revelation about the breast cancer and its treatment might convinces other women to continue to get the mammogram.

“Like many of you, I have seen friends die because their cancers were detected too late. And like many of you, I suspect, I have just been given my own personal tutorial in the value of early detection,” she said. “My message is simple: That mammogram appointment? Keep it. And make your appointment for next year while you're at it.”