FRIDAY, Oct. 10, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Always health-conscious, Lorraine Jackson knew the value of screening for breast cancer, even though no one in her family had ever battled the disease.
So she got a mammogram at age 40, just as the American Cancer Society recommends.
It saved her life.
The image revealed seven white dots on the film, recalls Jackson, 44, who works as director of business development for a busy Los Angeles law firm.
"The whole key was early detection," she says.
Things moved quickly after that. Doctors did a biopsy and diagnosed the cancer as ductal carcinoma in situ in her left breast, says Jackson. This type of cancer is found in the milk ducts of the breast.
Because the cancer was in such an early stage, Jackson opted for a lumpectomy, in which the tumor and some normal tissue surrounding it was excised, preserving the rest of the breast. Just to be sure, her doctor also ordered an exam of the lymph nodes, where breast cancer can spread. It came back negative.
Jackson's doctor prescribed radiation therapy, too -- five days a week for seven weeks.
Today, she's cancer-free.
Jackson isn't just a success story in terms of early detection. She's a survivor-turned-activist. Soon after her experience, she began sharing the details with fellow members of the Century City Chamber of Commerce, of which she's a member.
She was also asked by the American Cancer Society to become an "ambassador." The society's ambassadors become advocates for breast cancer research. With other ambassadors, Jackson traveled to Washington, D.C., in 2002 for the society's "Relay for Life: Celebration on the Hill." They met with their Congressional representatives, seeking more government funding for research and greater access to cancer screening.
This year, about 212,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, according to American Cancer Society estimates, and about 40,000 people -- almost all of them women -- will die from the disease.
Jackson just organized a fund-raising dinner at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel through her new organization, the Lorraine Jackson Foundation. She's donating the proceeds to the American Cancer Society.
She called the event "Pearls of Hope."
"As busy women, we live day to day," says Jackson, who regularly logs 40- to 50-hour workweeks and has a long commute to her job. "But we should live mammogram to mammogram. Each mammogram will determine the quality of your next year."
She knows the value of cancer research firsthand. When her doctor told her that a lumpectomy would work for her, he also told her something else that stuck with her. Ten years ago, he said, her recommended treatment would have been a mastectomy.
"Funding makes a difference in cancer research," she says.
