FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Last week, around 750 cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones traveled to Washington D.C. for the Leadership Summit and Lobby Day through the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. An early detection program currently in the works is a blood test that will test for fifty types of cancer with one blood draw.
"They want to get it covered under Medicare first, and they are still testing it through the FDA so it hasn't completely been approved yet. It is something we have asked them for and we're asking them to sign on and support," Jennifer True said.
True is a breast cancer survivor from Frankfort who reflects on her diagnosis in 2014.
"Your first thought is, how am I going to handle this? First thought was to tell my children who were away from home. Not make the phone call and say by the way," she said.
Now cancer-free, Jennifer's story was featured for the state of Kentucky at the Lights of Hope Ceremony and she just returned from a three-day trip to Washington, D.C. last week with American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. She urged elected officials to take steps to make cancer a national priority.
"This is one reason I got involved in Cancer Action Network. I had a nurse navigator," she said.
For True, that was a game-changer.
"I realized very quickly, other patients do not get that kind of care," True said.
Part of Jennifer's message working with the Cancer Action Network is to emphasize that roughly one in three people in the U.S. hear the words 'you have cancer.'
"You never think you're going to hear that. I had no family history. I wasn't worried at all about hearing those words after I had a mammogram," True said.
True will be ten years cancer-free in 2025. Her life's work continues as she meets with members of the Kentucky Congressional Delegation.
