Heinz fighting breast cancer
BOSTON - Teresa Heinz says she is being treated for breast cancer discovered through mammography and argues that younger women should continue undergoing the tests despite a federal panel's recent recommendation to reduce their frequency.
BOSTON - Teresa Heinz says she is being treated for breast cancer discovered through mammography and argues that younger women should continue undergoing the tests despite a federal panel's recent recommendation to reduce their frequency.
The 71-year-old wife of the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts, and the widow of Sen. John Heinz, heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune, said that she found out after her annual mammogram in late September that she had cancer in her left breast.
In early October, she underwent lumpectomies on both breasts after doctors also discovered what they thought was a benign growth on her right breast. Two other doctors later found it to be malignant. In November, Heinz had another pair of lumpectomies performed at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Doctors also inserted titanium clips in the tissue of both breasts during the operations, and next month she will receive five days of targeted radiation aimed at improving her odds of a successful treatment to 95 percent.