Breast

Evelyn David's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all had breast cancer , so she knew there was a high likelihood that she would get the disease, too. But she never imagined it would strike so early. Last year, at age 31, David was enjoying the early years of marriage and looking forward to having kids. "I was still partying and doing my thing," said the federal police officer, who lives in Baltimore. "The farthest thing from my mind was breast cancer . I never thought it would happen at this time in my life.

I'm not anti-attachment parenting by any means. I'm what-works-for-my-family-works-for-us-and-what-works-for-you-works-for-you, a philosophy that is flexible but has way too many hyphens. It happens that attachment parenting wasn't something that worked for my family. I was interested in the idea of babywearing, but I had back issues even before I got pregnant, and parenthood hasn't made them any better. Co-sleeping wasn't something I was particularly interested in for a number of reasons.

At 36, Tamera Bittinger wasn't even old enough for a mammogram. And when she found a lump in her breast last year, her doctor dismissed it. She barely had time for her concern to abate, however, because the lump quickly grew large and painful, and she returned for another exam. After a biopsy, the mother of two was told she had stage-three "triple negative" breast cancer , an aggressive form of the disease that disproportionally strikes younger women and African-Americans, and is impervious to the newest treatments.

The Maryland affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure has awarded $2.2 million to 26 local health departments, hospitals and other programs to provide free mammograms, breast exams and diagnostic tests. The money will also be used for support programs, patient mentoring, meals, transportation, outreach in minority communities and financial assistance for those in treatment. Recipient groups include: Allegany County Health Department; Baltimore County Department of Health; Baltimore Medical System Inc.; Calvert Memorial Hospital; Cecil County Health Department; Center for a Healthy Maryland Inc.; Chase Brexton Health Services Inc.; Franklin Square Hospital; Harbor Hospital Foundation; Howard County Health Department; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; MAC Inc.; Maryland General Hospital; Mercy Medical Center; Meritus Health; Moveable Feast Inc.; Northwest Hospital Center Inc.; Nueva Vida; St. Mary's Hospital; The Pro Bono Counseling Project; The Red Devils; University of Maryland Medical System Foundation; Wicomico County Health Department; Peninsula Regional Medical Center; and University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Growing up in Ohio, Cynthia Zahnow wanted to be a marine biologist and "swim with the dolphins. " But while pursuing her graduate degrees, she became intrigued by the normal physiological and hormonal processes that go wrong when cancer strikes. And when she discovered benign lumps in her breasts as a young woman, she shifted her research focus to breast cancer biology. "I wanted to make an impact, and I wanted to help women," she said. She's 49 now, and for 10 years has worked in the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, seeking and testing new therapies, and searching for the genetic and molecular clues that can link individual patients to the treatments most likely to help them.

When a photograph of Deborah Norville breast feeding her infant son appeared last week in People magazine, a minor controversy arose. However, a clear majority of callers to SUNDIAL feel that it's okay for a woman to breast feed her child in public.Of the 735 Evening Sun readers and other callers yesterday, 444, or 60 percent, said they thought it was okay for a woman to breast feed in public. Of that total, 361 were male callers, and 236, or 65 percent, approved. Of the 374 female callers, 208, or 55 percent, gave their approval.

Controversy arose last week after a photograph of Deborah Norville breast feeding her infant son appeared on the pages of People magazine.Norville's peers in the electronic news biz disparaged the decision to breast feed in public. "A serious newswoman does not do this," one snipped.The Norville swirl does raise a point, though: Should women routinely breast feed in public? And, further, are you uncomfortable when they do?To register your opinion, call SUNDIAL, the Baltimore Sun's directory of telephone information services at 783-1800 (or 268-7736 in Anne Arundel County)

If there is one area of human behavior into which legislatures should not have to intrude, it would surely be breast feeding. Nature's brilliant plan for nourishing infants that also helps support tiny immune systems is regarded by medical experts as superior to any substitute method and thus widely encouraged. Yet more than 40 states, including Maryland, have enacted statutes to affirmatively assert a mother's right to nurse her child in public or at least to exempt her from criminal prosecution under indecency laws.

The Dow Corning Corporation is now learning first-hand a lesson that should have been ingrained in corporate policy. Stonewalling on safety complaints to federal regulators questioning your products' potential hazards is a quick way to the trash heap. That this could happen after Johns Manville Corporation's asbestos debacle, after the Dalkon Shield fiasco bounced the A.H. Robbins Co. into bankruptcy, is astounding.Irresponsibility in high circles put Dow Corning in this position. Thus, it is a prudent move for the company to replace its top executives.

The Maryland Senate unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would guarantee women the right to breast-feed their children in public. The bill, backed by the state's nine female senators, was prompted in part by an incident involving a Reisterstown woman who was asked not to breast-feed her child on a bench in a toy store. The measure will move to the House of Delegates. About half the states in the country have such laws. Approximately 60 percent of new mothers in Maryland breast-feed their babies, according to the state health department.

When looking at the health of Marylanders, support for breast feeding, as proposed by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), is the right thing to do and follows the U.S. Surgeon General's call to action to support breast feeding. We disagree with Dr. Kenneth Hoffman's opinions about the recommendations coming from DHMH ("Promotion of breast feeding goes too far," Feb. 14). Evidence shows that breast feeding is superior to the alternative. It is not just a food.

Once again the official promotion of breast feeding as the only choice is being touted by my friend Fran Phillips at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ("Maryland seeks to improve support for mothers to breast-feed," Feb. 11). No one disputes some of the advantages of breast feeding, but many claims for benefits in health care cost savings are way off. No one has looked at the cost of the number of extra visits to my office to reassure distraught parents with children who are doing poorly with the nursing process.

Breast-feeding didn't come easy at first for Sharalyn Webre, who struggled through five months with her first child. But with more experience, patience and family support, feedings were less complicated with her next two children, including a baby girl born last week at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. Now, for the first time, Maryland health officials are pushing all hospitals in the state to create policies to smooth the process for even more new mothers like Webre. They say breast milk is better for a baby's health and too many mothers are switching to formula feedings.

By now, I am sure you have all heard the recent controversy surrounding Susan G. Komen and the subsequent amendment of the grant funding criteria policy. Nothing has changed these past few days as far as the local funding for breast cancer services throughout Maryland. Komen Maryland is dedicated to serving the breast health needs of all women, men and families regardless of age, race, gender or socioeconomic status. Our top priority is to continue to fund local programs with the best outcomes and community impact we can provide.

It is no secret. I have never trusted Susan G. Komen for the Cure and its pink ribbons. And the fact that it succumbed to public pressure and agreed Friday to continue its relationship with Planned Parenthood — after announcing a cutoff of funds earlier in the week — has done little to reassure me. To begin with, I always thought it was a lousy way to assign health care and research dollars in this country. ("Hey! Let's all donate to the most popular girl in the class and cure her disease!"

The Susan G. Komen for the Curebreast cancer advocacy and charity group backed away Friday from a plan to slash funding to Planned Parenthood programs, but the public apology might not be enough to repair its damaged image right away. Experts in public relations and crisis management said some may not be ready to accept Komen's reversal. The group said it pulled funding for Planned Parenthood because of internal policy changes, but some perceived the move as driven by political pressure from abortion opponents.

About 30 mothers toted their babies to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport yesterday to protest Delta Air Lines and other companies that have hassled them for breast-feeding in public. The "nurse-in" at BWI and several other airports around the country was in response to a nursing mother's removal from a Delta commuter flight last month after she refused a flight attendant's request that she cover up. Delta has since said it "fully supports a mother's right to breast-feed her baby on board our aircraft" and that removal of Emily Gillette and her family from a plane in Burlington, Vt., was not in keeping with Delta's service standards.

Francine Strickwerda's mother died of breast cancer when her daughter was only 7, disappearing forever into the fog of silence that surrounded the disease 30 years ago. Strickwerda says she was ashamed to tell people how her mother had died. Her own breasts appeared early, in the fourth grade, and she endured the mockery of classmates. But it was more than the teasing that made her so miserable. "The [breasts] of doom had taken my mother. Now they were after me," she says in her highly praised documentary, Busting Out. The movie, the first by Strickwerda, is both a short course on the history and mystery of the breast and a coming-to-terms exercise for the Seattle filmmaker, still haunted and grieving all these years later.

The inaugural Susan G. Komen breast cancer race scheduled for Ocean City in April was meant to be a feel-good event promoting a noble cause - and a way to boost tourism during the resort town's off-season. Now uncertainty surrounds it and other Komen events in Maryland and beyond, as fallout continues from the national organization's recent decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood. Ocean City officials and Komen Maryland organizers are still planning for a crowd of 3,000 for the race that raises money for breast cancer research.

Few organizations have done more for women's healththan both Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a leading supporter of breast-cancer treatment and research, and Planned Parenthood, the country's top reproductive health care provider and advocate. To see the two organizations now at war is not only upsetting to many women's health supporters but all the more tragic because it's so unnecessary. The most charitable interpretation of events would suggest that Komen was duped by anti-abortion advocates into cutting off support for breast exams at Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country.