Teresa Heinz urges young women to undergo frequent tests while talking about her battle with breast cancer.

Teresa Heinz, wife of the 2004 presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, speaks about her battle with breast cancer. She recalled her MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, and said that the nurses were being ‘livid’ when they heard the recommendation by U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The federal panel recommended women to start receiving their mammograms at the age of 50 rather than 40. Despite the recommendation, Teresa Heinz strongly urges women to undergo frequent tests. She says that the cost of receiving mammograms is far less than the trauma women undergo if there cancer goes undetected. Teresa Heinz says that if the cancer is not detected early, these women will have to go through an aggressive chemotherapy, and that’s what makes Heinz so ‘upset’ about the recommendation.

Teresa Heinz told that she discovered her breast cancer after undergoing annual mammogram in late September. She has undergone two lumpectomies at Massachusetts General Hospital and will receive a five-day targeted radiation which will improve her chances of recovery to 95%. She also told that she has not decided yet about the follow-up medicinal treatment plan that could improve her survival odds to 99%.

Teresa Heinz is an American philanthropist and a widower of late Senator H. John Heinz III. She married Senator. John Kerry in May 1995.

Teresa Heinz is the chairperson of the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment. The organizations fund several social and environmental causes. She also aids the city of Pittsburgh and has been awarded with 12 honorary doctoral degrees in recognition of her philanthropist work.

Teresa Heinz