By: Stephanie Kalota
Founder, Veteran Legislative Voice & AHG Correspondent
For those who know me, I don’t often share my personal life publicly. I have been advocating for better legislation for the military and veterans and writing about it since 2020. But recently, a single piece of legislation may have just saved my life.
I was 37, when Senate Bill 2102, Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas SERVICE Act, was signed into law. This act added an extra eligibility category to breast cancer screenings for veterans, which is a deployment for the Gulf War and Post-9/11 Wars, despite the veteran’s age. I waited at least 90 days before requesting a breast cancer screening. Unsurprisingly, my primary care doctor and nurses were not read in on this new law. It took a few more months for me to get a mammogram and a subsequent MRI (dense breast tissue runs in my family). As a result, they did find some suspicious-looking masses. Multiple imaging and biopsies later, they found precancerous cells. Various doctors could not find these masses by the regular touch method, the recommended method of screening before one is old enough for a mammogram.
For those that do not know, the starting age for breast cancer screening is 45 if there is no known breast cancer in the family and 40 if it does run in the family. I did not find out that a grandmother did indeed have breast cancer before she passed until my immediate family discussed my first biopsy with my extended family. So, if I never received the screening in the first place, I would not be screened until I turned 45. By that age, the precancerous mass in my breast would have certainly turned malignant and possibly metastatic.
So why is this screening important? Attention was first brought when a 2009 study by Walter Reed found that breast cancer rates among military women are 20 to 40% higher than the general population. This act was named after Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas, a former Marine officer and mental health care advocate, who was diagnosed with three types of breast cancer at just 38 years old. Sadly, she lost her fight on April 5th, 2022, just 2 months before the act passed.
When the SERVICE Act was passed, it was overshadowed by the Honoring Our PACT Act. This can be partially understandable since the PACT Act was one of the most progressive pieces of legislation for the Gulf War and Post-9/11 War veterans. But the Service Act does deserve its attention because it can save lives like it has saved mine. So please share this information with every veteran (male or female) to get checked. Always advocate for yourself and don’t settle with a denial.
