May 6-12, 2004

slant

Call to Action

PA needs to do more to fight breast cancer.

by Vernon Anastasio

May is breast-cancer awareness month, and it’s been more than 20 years since I first became keenly aware. I watched my mother’s only sister deal with it at age 31. And though it changed her life forever and touched each of us deeply, we take comfort in the fact that she is a survivor.

South Philadelphia civic leader Christine Masculli was not as lucky. For years she fought breast cancer while raising a son, tending to her husband and serving her community. Those of us who loved her watched in awe as she would go from chemotherapy treatments to the streets organizing against Mardi Gras riots or delivering holiday turkeys to senior citizens. Ultimately, Christine became one of the 40,000 American women who die every year from breast cancer.

Neither experience, however, prepared me for when the doctor found a tumor on my wife, Leslie. Still newlyweds and planning to start a family, we were quickly confronted with issues we never dreamed of dealing with so soon: sickness, surgery and death. I remember being so frightened that I was in a functional state of devastated shock. And I wasn't even the patient. Though we later rejoiced in the news that the tumor in her breast was benign, the scars of the emotional ordeal were slow to heal. Leslie now advocates for spending increases for women's health issues as a commissioner at the Pennsylvania Commission on Women.

And again, this year we have become reacquainted with breast cancer as another dear friend in her 30s was diagnosed with the disease.

It seems as though this battle has been going on for quite some time now. We wear our ribbons and we race for the cure, but every year more families are devastated by breast cancer.

Sadly, the state of Pennsylvania is of little help. Our state spends just a fraction of its budget on all women's health services combined. Only a small amount of that goes to issues related to breast cancer. It seems the Republican-leaning legislature is more obsessed with directing new funds to so-called "family planning centers" that talk women out of having abortions than with helping living, breathing women who face the possibility of death.

Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of death due to breast cancer in the nation and yet it rarely gets the attention of our elected leaders. More of Pennsylvanians' tax dollars should be spent on helping develop better treatments and ultimately a cure for a disease that touches thousands of our families each year. Before they spend another nickel of our money on more corporate welfare, subsidizing everything from sports venues to office towers, they should dedicate more funding to a disease that takes so many of our women from us.

Voters, too, need to make this a priority. Just as we judge candidates based on their positions on such things as tort reform and taxes, so must we judge them on the issue of saving women's lives.

With so many pharmaceutical companies and research hospitals in Philadelphia, one can argue that there is even a role for City Hall to play in this fight. Special tax abatement programs for treatment labs or research hubs would encourage industry growth and spark innovations from some of the best medical students in the nation.

Targeted scholarships for breast cancer research and fellowships sponsored by City Hall could also help kick-start the effort. The possibilities could be endless. And just as the state and city are so willing to create and support "opportunity zones" that give law firms and corporations huge tax breaks to come and stay here, so can we create these types of zones for those in the medical profession dedicated to curing breast cancer.

Because no disease impacts more of our mothers, daughters, sisters and wives than breast cancer, we should all do something to help.

And we need to start now. The first Classical Concert for the Cure is being planned for this coming fall, and your help is needed. It is dedicated to the memories of those like Christine Masculli who fought this fight with dignity. Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation of Philadelphia. Call 215-925-2997 to join those of us who have seen enough of breast cancer to last a lifetime.

Vernon Anastasio is the president of Bella Vista United Civic Association and lives in South Philadelphia with his wife and son. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (800 words), contact Howard Altman, City Paper editor in chief, 123 Chestnut St., third floor, Phila., PA 19106 or e-mail altman@citypaper.net.