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Smart Living: Breast cancer survivor working to erase breast cancer through new initiative

Smart Living: Breast cancer survivor working to erase breast cancer through new initiative
2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago Thursday, September 12 2024 Sep 12, 2024 September 12, 2024 12:16 PM September 12, 2024 in News

One woman is on a mission to make sure other women go out and get screened for breast cancer through an initiative called The Pink Eraser Project.

"I have a lovely life. I have a wonderful husband, five kids, and worked really hard," breast cancer survivor and co-founder of The Pink Eraser Project Michele Young said. "I did have mammograms, so I thought I was safe."

But then, unexpectedly...

"I was stage four and told to do my bucket list," Young said.

Young believes her cancer went undetected for years, due to her dense breasts. Mammograms, the only screening covered by her insurance, missed it.

Mammograms measure density in the breast, but in breasts that are already dense, mammograms can't distinguish a tumor from normal tissue.

Only an MRI can do that, but most insurance won't cover it.

"Not giving people the screening they deserve, it's inhumane," Young said.

Young, a lawyer, took action.

First, she became a major force behind Ohio House Bill 371, which did pass.

It requires insurance companies to expand access to advanced breast cancer screening for women with dense breasts.

Then, she created The Pink Eraser Project, bringing together top researchers across the world and asking them to focus on one thing.

"We could create a vaccine for breast cancer with all the safety rules of the FDA with everything being checked carefully, within five to 10 years," Young said.

Cleveland Clinic Oncologist Tom Budd is part of a U.S. team of investigators, scientists and doctors, creating a breast cancer vaccine.

"The dream would be if we could immunize patients and prevent them from getting breast cancer in the first place," Budd said.

Today, Young is in remission, and is focused on erasing breast cancer.

"I get to change more lives, and I get to be changed," Young said.

Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, M.D. Anderson, Dana Farber, and the University of Washington are working together to create a vaccine in the next five years.

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