Turn on your television set and listen to the evening news. In Baltimore, whether you turn on WJZ13, WMAR2, WBAL11 or Fox45, you will hear a story about cancer. Sometimes it is a technical story about medical research. Other times, it is about a specific person – a patient, a survivor or a caregiver. Cancer is a hot news topic. This week was abuzz with the Komen decision regarding grant funds to Planned Parenthood.
Just last week, the Virginia State House of Delegates passed a bill requiring additional information be included in mammogram reports. The added information will notify patients of the density of their breast tissue. This information alerts patients and doctors of the possibility that the dense tissue may prevent early detection of breast tumors.
This week, there were several stories covering just two topics -- making news headlines!
First, there was a breaking story reporting a boy in Michigan being suspended from school because his hair was “unkempt.” The boy is a survivor of leukemia. He wants to grow his hair to an acceptable length to donate it to Locks of Love, a non-profit charity that provides human hair wigs to cancer patients. The boy and his parents are standing by the decision not to get a hair cut until after the hair donation. His hair is currently two to three inches long.
Locks of Love requires hair donations to be a minimum of ten inches. There are a few other requirements provided on the Locks of Love website. Check them out if you would like to support the charity and donate to the cause.
This story quickly got lost in the Komen uproar!
On Tuesday, the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced they would discontinue funding to Planned Parenthood. This became the headline story throughout the week.
A firestorm of backlash was unleashed by women across the country. While Maryland Planned Parenthood locations do not receive grant funding from Komen-Maryland, many Race for a Cure participants let their feelings be known about the decision. Grassroots groups, supporters, activists up to and including 26 Congressional senators, including Baltimore's own Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, pressured Komen to re-evaluate their decision.
As of the posting of this article (Friday, 2/4, at 4 PM est), Komen has announced the reversal of their decision. They will continue to enforce their new guidelines for denying grants to recipients who are under investigation for criminal activity. This ruling will not, however, be applied to groups under political investigations unless criminal activity is proven.
Between Tuesdays announcement and today's reversal, Planned Parenthood says they received approximately $400,000 in donations showing the dedication of woman coming forward to support health care for poor and low income women.
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