KY Lt. Gov. Coleman gets positive report after double mastectomy, urges awareness
After undergoing a double mastectomy earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman said Tuesday her post-surgery reports look good.
“Great news, Team Kentucky: My post-surgery reports came back clean!” Coleman said in a news release.
“While I am grateful for my amazing health-care heroes, and the relief I feel for having answers, please hear me when I say, if I had put this off, skipped appointments, or not taken it seriously, it is likely the news I’d be sharing eventually wouldn’t be great.”
Coleman encouraged women not to put off preventative and routine breast cancer screenings.
“Early detection and prevention were the difference makers for me,” she said. “And they are for you, too. Go schedule that appointment that’s been in the back of your mind.”
After becoming the first woman in Kentucky history to be sworn in for a second term as lieutenant governor on Dec. 12, Coleman on Dec. 18 announced she was recovering from the medical procedure.
“Concerns were raised to me during a recent routine physical exam. With a significant family history of cancer, I made the decision to have a double mastectomy,” she said at the time.
A prophylactic mastectomy is a surgery that removes one, or in Coleman’s case, both breasts to “lower the chances of getting breast cancer,” according to the American Cancer Society.
Such surgeries can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 90% or more, the ACS says. Certain genetic mutations — such as the BRCA1 or BRCA2 — carry with them a “greatly increased risk of breast cancer,” according to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation.
Women should start getting mammograms at age 40, rather than 50 as previously recommended, according to a draft of breast cancer screening recommendations released earlier this year by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
On Tuesday, following her post-surgery report, Coleman thanked Kentuckians “for all the prayers and the well wishes. They have kept me and my family going through a really tough time. I can’t wait to see you all soon.”
