Breast Cancer

Breast cancer: An article in Monday's Health section examining the medical facts in an episode of the TV series "Nip/Tuck" said that a diagnosis of Stage 2 breast cancer means that the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Though a designation of Stage 2 breast cancer often refers to a cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm, it can also refer to a tumor of a certain size that has not spread: Stage 2A can be a tumor (without spread) measuring 2 to 5 centimeters in diameter.

Wendy Richard, 65, a British actress whose four-decade television career included roles as a sexy sitcom shop assistant and a working-class matriarch on the soap opera "EastEnders," died Thursday after a long battle with breast cancer. Richard's agent, Kevin Francis, said she died in a London clinic with her husband, John Burns, by her side. Born Wendy Emerton in the northeastern English city of Middlesbrough, Richard was raised above the pub that her parents ran in central London.

Sheryl Flowers, 42, a producer for Tavis Smiley's programs on Public Radio International and National Public Radio, died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She had breast cancer. Flowers was also director of communications for the Smiley Group, which announced her death. From 2004 until last month she was executive producer of "The Tavis Smiley Show" on PRI, and from 2002 to '04 she was senior supervising producer of the show on NPR. The news and information show hosted by Smiley is produced in Los Angeles and airs on 90 stations around the country, including KPCC-FM (89.3)

Re "With cancer, it's always personal," Oct. 25 Thank you for running Paul Lieberman's Op-Ed article on prostate and breast-cancer screening. I would, however, retitle his article, "With Cancer, it's never real until it's personal." My point is that one only comes to terms with cancer after we, personally, are diagnosed. The danger with the current discussion over prostate cancer testing is that the continual focus on possible post-treatment problems may drive the annual PSA testing rate below the current meager rate.

Kathy Betz, a 28-year-old cyclist from Baltimore, is expected to receive a hero's welcome Monday when she arrives in Orange County after a 30-day, 3,000-mile bicycle journey to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness of the disease. Her coast-to-coast ride has been sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which is hosting the fifth annual Race for the Cure run in Newport Beach Sept. 22.

Resident Nina Rattner has been appointed to the executive committee of the 1996 Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's annual "Race for the Cure." Rattner is co-chair of the hospitality committee for the event, which generates money for breast cancer research and is one of the largest 5K runs in the nation. Last year, participants in the Orange County race raised $345,000. This year's race will be Sept. 22 in Newport Beach. --BY DEBRA CANO AND LORI HAYCOX

Women who work around electronic equipment that generates powerful magnetic fields may have a slightly increased risk of breast cancer, say researchers led by Boston University's Patricia Coogan. They analyzed 6,888 working women with breast cancer in four states and compared them to a similar group of women without the disease.

Prostate cancer. Breast cancer. Two gender-specific diseases with distinctive similarities. Deadly when left untreated, both claim similar numbers of lives--at least 40,000 people in the United States will die from each disease this year--and both strike a very intimate side of self-image. The outcome of most breast and prostate cancer surgeries is good. Yet, in the process, sexual self-esteem is often jeopardized. A man cannot comprehend losing the external badge of femininity.

Kathy Betz realized her lifelong dream of bicycling across the United States when she arrived Monday in Newport Beach after a 30-day, 3,000-mile journey that raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer research, treatment and education programs. Weary but smiling, the Baltimore native was greeted by about 40 cheering supporters at Hoag Cancer Center, a sponsor of the upcoming Race for the Cure. One aim of Betz's trip was to promote similar fund-raising races organized annually by the Susan G.

On Girls' Day Out, most women indulge in activities like tea and manicures. My friends and I? We go for mammograms. Let me back up. A few months ago, I discovered a couple of breast lumps. Although my nurse practitioner felt strongly that they were nothing more than cysts, she wanted me to have a mammogram to be sure and she urged me not to become complacent and put it off. I put it off. Some time later, at a party, my friend An and I were admiring Julie's new pink bra. We do things like that.