THE REAUTHORIZATION OF JOHANNA'S LAW

Floor Speech

* Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of an important bill that enjoys strong and consistent bipartisan support--the reauthorization of Johanna's Law through 2014. This is an important vote. It will help to raise awareness of the warning signs for ovarian cancer. And it will, put simply, save lives.

* Better awareness might have helped Johanna Silver Gordon--in whose honor the bill is named. Johanna lost her life to ovarian cancer despite being a health conscious woman who visited the gynecologist regularly. Like many women, Johanna had symptoms and clinical signs of ovarian cancer that were missed by both her and her healthcare provider. And her sister, Sheryl Silver, was determined never to let another sister, mother, daughter or friend go through the same thing.

* This bill will help to make that happen. It reauthorizes the existing CDC program that educates women and their health care providers about the symptoms of ovarian cancer. And it includes new support for other organizations to carry out complementary education and awareness campaigns in order to get the word out about this terrible disease.

* I want to thank Congressmen Darrell Issa, Dan Burton, and Sandy Levin for their committed leadership on this issue. And I urge my colleagues to vote for this legislation. As Johanna's family can tell you, it really will make a difference.

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