Cheri's Law signed by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts
Governor Pete Ricketts signed LB195, Cheri's Law, at 1PM (Central Time) on April 26, 2017 giving Nebraska women the same information their docs have about their dense breast tissue.
The News Conference was attended by the family of Cheri Rauth, patient advocates and other Nebraskan residents who advocated for the bill, along with Senator Joni Craighead, the sponsor of Cheri's Law. Dr. Cappello testified at the Public Hearing in Lincoln on January 20, 2017. Nancy's Chalkboard blog post, "Dense Fog Can Lead to a Deadly Collision: Preventing a Fatal Flaw in Breast Cancer Screening," is a tribute to Cheri Rauth.
Cheri Rauth, an Omaha resident, contacted Dr. Nancy Cappello in 2015, after receiving a stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis after never missing a mammography appointment for 15 years. It was Cheri's desire to advocate for a density reporting law in Nebraska to prevent another Nebraskan from a missed, delayed and advanced stage breast cancer because of dense breast tissue. Tragically, Cheri died on January 10, 2016 never having the opportunity for a earlier diagnosis. Her husband, Bill, and Cheri's family advocated with Senator Craighead to fulfill Cheri's dream that a woman's dense breast tissue is disclosed to her as part of her mammography report. Cheri's law is effective September 2, 2017.
This is the fourth bill that was signed into law in the 2017 legislative session as Nebraska joins Iowa, Colorado and Kentucky as the latest density reporting states.
Connecticut was the first state to enact a density reporting law in 2009, inspired by Nancy M. Cappello, Ph.D., after her advanced stage 3c breast cancer, metastasized to 13 lymph nodes, was discovered within weeks of her 11th normal mammogram. It was at this time that the impact of her dense breast tissue and its challenges to detect cancer by mammogram alone was revealed to her by her team of doctors.
Dr. Cappello is the founder and director of two breast health non profit organizations, Are You Dense Inc. and Are You Dense Advocacy, Inc.
Density Reporting States as of Apri 26, 2017:
Connecticut (2009), Texas (2011), Virginia, New York, California (2012), Tennessee, Hawaii, Maryland, Alabama, Nevada, Oregon, North Carolina, Pennsylvania (2013), Ohio, Missouri, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Arizona, New Jersey (2014) Louisiana, Delaware, North Dakota, Michigan (2015), Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Vermont (2016) Colorado, Kentucky, Iowa, Nebraska (2017)
Cheri's family, Nebraska Advocates, Dr. Cappello, NE Legislators and Senator Craighead at the Press Conference on January 20th before the Public Hearing on Cheri's Law.
