Boundless Blessings and God's Grace

I apologize in advance for this post being so long, but I wanted to acknowledge those who offered support along the way. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, I never imagined that I would one day be fighting for a law that would notify people in North Dakota following mammography if they had dense breast tissue. It was a tough challenge, much like my breast cancer battle, but after overcoming a Do Not Pass recommendation from both the House and Senate Human Services Committees, ND HB 1370 – Mammography Results Notices on Dense Breast Tissue, passed the House and Senate, and was signed into law by Gov. Dalrymple and became effective immediately.

There are so many people to thank for this law becoming a reality in our state – Co-sponsors of the bill – Rep. Pam Anderson, Rep. Kathy Hawken, Rep. Alisa Mitskog, Rep. Marie Strinden, and Sen. Carolyn Nelson, dense breast tissue notification advocate and survivor, Patty Johnson, Dr. Nancy Capello, survivor and Founder of AreYouDenseAdvocacy.org from CT, and members of the ND House and Senate who believed that patients should be informed if they have dense breast tissue so they could have a better chance of finding potential breast cancer at its earliest stage.

Equally important to this law becoming a reality were the voices in the media – Amy Iler, Jack Sunday, and others at KFGO, Sandy Buttweiler and others at WDAY, Nicole Johnson and many others at Valley News Live, Pat Springer and others at The Forum, Andrew at KFYR TV, not to forget the early media coverage by Jim Shaw, Valley News Live, ND Today with Andrea and Chris, WDAY TV and Radio, Christopher Gabriel, KVRR TV, WDAZ TV, KFGO Radio with Jack and Sandy (at that time), 107.9 The Fox with Robbie, Dave, and Moose, Nicole Phillips through her Kindness Is Contagious column, The Forum, the High Plains Reader, the Area Women Magazine, and the many locations who have carried and sold my book, “Boundless Blessings and God’s Grace: My Journey through Breast Cancer” along the way – thank you!

My initial contacts regarding this bill/law started in August of 2014, and continued during the All About Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Event on Oct. 10th, 2014 at West Acres Mall – thank you to Brad, Alissa, Cheryl at West Acres and all of the providers and programs offering breast cancer-related services in the area who were with us on Oct. 10th providing education to those coming through our displays. To Amanda Thomas, Pat Fritel, Judy Miller, Patty Johnson, and Mary Schott, who so graciously volunteered to help pull together participant feedback in an informal survey regarding dense breast tissue knowledge, thank you for helping gather feedback that helped a great deal as we worked to get this law passed.

For the friendship, support and encouragement of my former boss, Pat Traynor, thank you so much! To Chester Miller who took time to drive me to and from Bismarck on Jan 28th, 2014, so I could testify in person at the first hearing, thank you for your generosity of your time and friendship. To my many friends and others who encouraged my efforts and took time to reach out to their legislators, your support was invaluable – thank you!

Finally, to my sister, Jill, who has supported my efforts from day one and drove me to and from Bismarck so I could be at the bill signing event, my Mom who has supported me and prayed me through this challenging legislative effort, and my other siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins, I could not have a more supportive family – thank you all! To say I am grateful to everyone, including anyone I may have missed naming, thank you!

I truly have been blessed by persevering through this important health notification bill. If we save lives, trauma to patients, and millions in healthcare dollars, every moment will have been worth it.

Love you all!