Janelle's Blog

A shriek and loud thud came from my attic. I had been in the garage puttering around while my handyman was changing the filter on my AC/Heater. I scrambled up the ladder that hung from the attic door opening in the ceiling. My eyes darted in the direction of the AC/Heating Unit which was obscured by mounds of insulation.

"Are you hurt?" I yelled out.

"No, I slid on the insulation and fell backward. I'm OK, but I broke a board."

I thought, If he is OK, we can get that fixed later.

"There's kind of a hole up here," he said timidly.

How bad could it be? I thought. He didn't fall through. He fell backwards on the boards.

With the making of the movie, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, a scene for the National Breast Cancer Foundation was written into the script by Director Marc Lawrence. When I asked him why he chose NBCF to be in the movie, he said he wanted to do some good and help a real charity.

We were additionally invited to be in the scene as extras. Our son, Kevin Hail-COO and his wife, Amanda, as well as my husband, Neal, and I headed for NYC for the filming of the movie. My immediate thoughts: What am I going to wear? This was my first experience at movie stardom. Could that be my one second of fame?

From a recent foot surgery, I was more concerned about how I was going to get from tennis shoes to high heels in time for the movie making. My Dallas surgeon, Dr. Sandra Gold, reassured me she could get me into the heels. Sure enough, my first weekend to spring into my fashionable shoes came as we flew into NYC.

Since when do turkeys think they have the right to chase people? They need to quit getting their feathers so ruffled up and head for the hills. If I seem overly confident about turkeys, it is because I have overcome a run-in I had with a turkey when I was a young girl.

I grew up on the flat plains of West Texas, in Lubbock, a place large enough to be called a city. So, during my childhood years, I related everything to the city even to the point that I loved traffic jams and disliked dirt.

To the contrast, my grandparents lived in the country in nearby Idalou, which was not on the map as a full-fledged city. The road from Lubbock to Idalou was straight and boring. Not until we made a sharp turn down the county road did the excitement begin. For as long as I remember, there were three or four bison grazing on property just past the turn. It seemed like they should be in a zoo, but they grazed there for years.

The farm was always stocked with a nice supply of farm animals, including chickens, hogs, turkeys, horses, dogs, and cats. Farm life did not agree with me—strange animal sounds that keep me up all night, roosters that squawked too early in the morning, bad smells when the wind blew toward the house, and having to look down when I walked to keep from stepping in something I didn't want to identify. The one thing about country life that gave me a thrill was teasing the farm animals.

My son, Kevin Hail, COO of National Breast Cancer Foundation arrived at work before me today. As he walked down the hallway at our NBCF headquarters, he looked in my empty office and said aloud, "I thank God Mom got a mammogram before the age of 50."

At 34 years old, I felt a lump while performing a breast self-exam. Concerned, I got a mammogram that detected breast cancer. If it had not been for breast self-exams and a mammogram, I would not be alive today and the National Breast Cancer Foundation would not exist. Twenty-nine years later, I am healthy and cancer free due to early detection.

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends women ages 40 to 49 should not get annual mammograms and that women 50 to 74 should only be screened every other year instead of every year. They do not see the need for women 75 and over to receive mammograms. The Task Force further recommends against teaching breast self-examination (BSE). The reason US Preventive Services Task Force gives these recommendations is that risks do not outweigh the benefits.

During October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the news is filled with reminders of early detection. Why is this so important? Every one of us is touched by breast cancer, whether personally or by a friend, loved one, or acquaintance. When I had breast cancer 29 years ago, it was 1 in 11 women who had breast cancer in her lifetime. Now it is 1 in 8.

At National Breast Cancer Foundation, we are saving lives. We provide mammograms for women who cannot afford them. We work with hospitals nationwide to supply the needs of underserved women desperately wanting to get mammograms.

I have spoken with a number of women this month about getting mammograms. Here are a few of the responses:

"I am afraid of what they will find."

"I am too busy."

"I don't have the money to get one."

"I heard mammograms are painful."

"I don't want to have scars."

"If I have to have a mastectomy, I will lose my femininity."