Working Mom With Cancer Starts Life-Saving Conversation
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Henda Salmeron is like an open book. Her story of survival is a subject of her memoir, "Grit Under My Nails."
That grit helped her pass a legislation called Henda's Law in 2011. Born in South Africa, she arrived in the United States with two suitcases and $500. "In a way I think it was all meant to be," she said.
In her book, she talks about a tough life. Abandoned and neglected as a child, she is not shy talking about anything. Even her breasts. She says that conversation saved her life.
In 1999, Salmeron, mother of two kids was shocked at the diagnosis of breast cancer. She said she had regular checkups, mammograms and was never once told, there was a problem.
"How do you miss a four centimeter tumor?" referring to the tumor that was found on one of her breasts. "They said to me that I had very dense breasts. What's that?" she asked.
More than 40 percent of women have dense breasts, which can mask small lumps or tumors. On mammograms, dense breast tissue appears white so do cancer cells. Some physicians have likened it to looking for a snowball in a snowstorm. "I felt that I was cheated out of my opportunity of an early diagnosis," she said.
She had four mammograms and was told that testing dense breast tissue was not the standard of care. She called her then state representative Allen Vaught. "I didn't vote for you had to google you, but you are going to help me change the standard of care," she said.
Even as she underwent surgery and radiation, she testified in Austin about dense breast tissue. Pushing for legislation until finally in 2011, Henda's Law became a reality. Texas became the second state to require mammography providers to tell women if they have dense breast tissue. The law requires doctors to tell patients that they might benefit from supplemental screenings.
"I needed to understand that my cancer was there for a reason and that's what this gave me. I kind of held onto that to save myself."
Supplemental screenings used to be out of pocket but building on Henda's Law, a new state law on the books now cover 3D mammograms, the most advanced screening available.
