Komen South Carolina Affiliates, former Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, SC Representative Catherine Ceips, Greenville County Probate Judge Debora Faulkner and others Gather at Summit to Draw Attention to Problems in South Carolina

Columbia, South Carolina - June 11, 2007 - The Upstate and Lowcountry Affiliates of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, former Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, SC Representative Catherine Ceips, Greenville County Probate Judge Debora Faulkner, Program Director of the Best Chance Network Jan Viars, and former Director of SC Department of Health and Human Services Robert Kerr, gathered with over 150 breast cancer survivors and activists at a luncheon summit today at Lace House on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion. They called on leaders at every level of government to address shocking racial disparities in breast cancer mortality rates and tremendous barriers that prevent low-income women from receiving care.

Specifically, breast cancer advocates called on South Carolina policymakers to make the first-ever $1 million appropriation to the Best Chance Network (BCN), the state's screening program for uninsured and underinsured women. With this funding, over 4,700 additional women in South Carolina would have access to the screening and diagnostic services provided by BCN. Advocates will also work with the BCN and legislature to expand eligibility guidelines to reach more South Carolina women. This may include lowering the age eligibility from 47 to 40 and raising the income requirement from 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 250 percent.

"South Carolina has been hard hit by breast cancer and low-income women and women of color have been hit the hardest. We need to close the gaps in research, policy and access to quality care that make breast cancer deadlier for some women," said Mary Lynn Faunda Donovan, executive director of the Komen Upstate South Carolina Affiliate.

In the United States, a woman has about a 13 percent risk - or one in eight - of developing breast cancer in her lifetime. Low-income women are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer and are three times more likely to die from the disease.

In South Carolina, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. This year alone, almost 3,000 South Carolina women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and almost 600 will die. South Carolina has one of the highest rates of uninsured women in the nation: one out of five women in the state are uninsured.

"The most significant risk factors for getting breast cancer are being female and getting older. We need to do more to take care of the mothers, sisters and friends who have taken such good care of us," said Taffy Tamblyn, executive director of the Komen Lowcountry Affiliate.

Tomorrow, the Komen on the Go™ community education van will be parked at Columbia's Charles R. Drew Wellness Center. Volunteers will answer questions about breast cancer and gather signatures for a petition to the State legislature requesting funds for the Best Chance Network and making screenings more widely available.

Today's event was part of Susan G. Komen for the Cure's "Komen Community Challenge," a 25-city tour and powerful new grassroots campaign to reach tens of thousands through community rallies, town hall meetings and state lobby days, rallying people together to close the gaps in research, policy and access to quality care that make breast cancer deadlier for some women than for others. Komen for the Cure is marking its 25th anniversary year by ratcheting up the fight against breast cancer and taking its special brand of pink ribbon activism on the road.