Speeches and Remarks 2008

REMARKS BY MRS. JEANNIE MULFORD
1^st Asian Breast Cancer Congress
Inauguration Ceremony
February 9, 2008
New Delhi, India

When the President of the United States asked my husband David if he would be willing to serve as the United States Ambassador to India, we sat down at the kitchen table and made what I now call the fastest big decision of our twenty-nine years together to go to India. The privilege and opportunity to return to public service, and what David referred to then as the unique moment in time in the U.S. and India relationship was compelling.

I did not know what to expect, but what we found after arriving, and what remains now with me, was that the Embassy was filled with wonderful people both Americans and Indians working side-by-side on so many fronts of endeavor to improve mankind and our important friendship with this remarkable country.

Everyday is a good day in India, filled with interest and challenge.  It has been a privilege.  I wish you could have experienced what I have.

And, that experience includes something I never dreamed of when I was packing for India.  That I would return to the United States one year later from home in India to have a routine annual mammogram, and after being blessed with fifty-five years of near perfect good health, learn that I had breast cancer.  That was two and three-quarters years ago, and the very best part of the journey through those two and three-quarters years, is what I have learned.

I thought I was afraid of cancer.  I learned that I was not.

I learned that early detection of breast cancer saves lives.

I learned something I already knew, that David would be my pillar of strength and love.

I learned that we are not always given in life the opportunity to be courageous and strong, and I saw this as my opportunity.

I chose to have a double mastectomy so that I could avoid a possible reoccurrence, begin chemotherapy more quickly, and I would not need radiation.  That double mastectomy was performed by the capable and compassionate hands of Dr. Hiram Cody, who is here

With us today, and to whom I would like to extend a personal welcome to India and express to Dr. Cody my deep personal gratitude. 

I learned how successful breast reconstruction can be, and I wish more women could know this as well.  I feel it would give them comfort when faced with certain outcomes of breast cancer.

At the very beginning of the process I resolved not to spend even one moment thinking a sad thought.

I learned that I could change in an instant a negative thought into a positive thought. 

I learned that if I was willing to speak openly about my breast cancer, that it might encourage other women to do the self-exams, clinical exams, and mammograms that could detect breast cancer in an early stage and therefore save their lives as it did mine.

A month after breast surgery I learned that I needed to have open-heart surgery to correct an anomaly that might have interfered with my chemotherapy.  I learned that because I had such a squeaky clean heart and had never smoked that I could walk two 14-minute miles a day, only six days after surgery.  Two weeks after heart surgery, I was in Washington for the White House State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

My captive audience of doctors and nurses in New York and Cleveland gave me the chance to tell them of my life here in India and what I have learned that I wish so many more Americans and people worldwide could know, that India is filled with hard-working, talented, wonderful people, especially the women who make daily, personal sacrifices for their families.  That those sacrifices often mean that their personal needs, their health, comes last or not at all when time or money is spent, and that when it comes to diagnosing breast cancer in an early, treatable stage, we all have a long way to go.  But, I see this as an opportunity, which with open discussion and awareness, could change these women's lives.

Four weeks after finishing the chemotherapy on my fifty-sixth birthday, I returned to India to welcome the President of the United States, George Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush to India for their historic visit wearing my wig, and considering myself the most grateful person in the world to be feeling so well and to be back in India.

I have been told by women here in India that the discussion of breast cancer in some areas is somehow taboo.  That because it is about breasts, or more specifically about women's breasts, that it is difficult to discuss or bring attention to the subject.  This must change.  Cancer locates itself in many parts of the human anatomy.  Men suffer from prostate, testicular and breast cancer.  There should be no shame or stigma attached to the disease, and no taboo to an open and frank discussion of breast exams, treatment and life after cancer. 

Following my diagnosis and treatment, I have spoken to dozens of women of many nationalities throughout America and India who have faced the same battle.  While it is a sisterhood none of us would have chosen, we are committed to work as partners to help other women who face the same fight to receive the early diagnosis and treatment that will let them lead full lives. 

I am living proof that early detection saves lives and that routine exams can result in breast cancer detection at its earliest and most treatable stages. 

Until there is a cure for breast cancer, we must stand together to urge every woman to perform monthly breast self-exams and to see her doctor for annual clinical breast exams and mammography as appropriate. 

When David and I sat down to discuss our plan for dealing with my breast cancer, I initially said "I am going to do whatever it takes to overcome this and we are not going to tell anyone except my family."  I remember David looking sympathetically but incredulously at me and saying "in our present circumstances in India, how do you suggest we do that?" 

I understood immediately that it could not be kept a secret.  I learned since then that it should not.  What I learned was that if I could speak openly about breast cancer, as I have done so today, and if only one woman is moved to have an exam that exposes breast cancer in an early, treatable stage that saves her life, it will have been worth every minute of the journey for me.

It is a great honor for me to have been asked by Dr. Vineet Gupta to speak before such an eminent group of doctors, surgeons and medical professionals.  I am deeply humbled by the dedication, knowledge, professional expertise and commitment represented in this room today.  I realize that I do not need to charge you with new challenges.  Your life's work in a noble profession is testament enough.

I simply wish, on behalf of every woman's life your work and dedication will benefit, to thank you.