Marilyn Quayle talks about breast cancer

Breast cancer, a leading health threat to women, was public enemy number one at a leadership summit for physicians and business leaders yesterday which featured Marilyn Quayle, Vice President Dan Quayle's wife. The University's Cancer Center co-hosted the Center City conference designed to energize the fight for early detection of breast cancer. Gov. Robert Casey's wife, Ellen, also spoke at the event. Quayle has directed her attention to promoting early breast cancer detection since her husband was elected in 1988. Quayle's presence at the conference brought a throng of secret service agents, as well as dozens of reporters and camera crews from the media. Personal loss served as Marilyn Quayle's introduction to the disease. In 1975, her mother, Mary Tucker, died from breast cancer -- a death that Quayle said she believes would have been prevented had early detection practices been more widely used. "My mother probably would have lived several years longer if early detection had been practiced," Quayle said. "Nationwide, the death rate from breast cancer could be reduced by 30 percent if early detection guidelines were followed." Casey said she too had learned about breast cancer from the death of a family member. Casey said she became active in the issue after her 35-year-old neice, Judy McDonough, died from breast cancer. "It was especially tragic because she left behind three young daughters," Casey added. The event was designed to be an awareness-oriented, non-political conference, according to Quayle's Deputy Chief-of-Staff Karen Walker. "We feel it's inappropriate to mix politics with an event like this," Walker said. "Marilyn likes to keep politics to an absolute minimum." But in a press conference after her speech, Quayle attacked Democratic presidential hopeful, Gov. Bill Clinton. "I have not heard Governor Clinton talk about breast cancer at all," she said. "His work in Arkansas has not been great." Despite the brief foray into campaign rhetoric, most of the afternoon's discussion was firmly focused on breast cancer prevention and early intervention. According to Rebecca Harmon, a Cancer Center staff member, mammograms and monthly self-examination for women are key to reduce the death rates from breast cancer. Awareness of these simple preventative measures was Quayle's theme yesterday. She added that students play an important role in the fight against the disease. "I really encourage women in college to talk about the issue. Sometimes young people are the only ones able to educate older members of their family, Quayle said. "We've come a long way in the fight for awareness, it wasn't long ago that people were embarrassed to say 'breast' in public."