Sanford budget would expand breast cancer screening

Breast cancer survivor Lamisha Goldsmith of Greenville said proposals to spend more for cancer screening and research are 'awesome.' BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff e-mail this story Related Online extra • Sanford's budget • Fact Sheet: 2005-2006 Executive Budget Related Web site • Greenville County delegation • Pickens County delegation Click on the help icons for information on these links and any programs needed to open them.

"That's a good start," said Nicole Henderson of Spartanburg. "More needs to be spent, but we have to start somewhere and that's better than where we were."

The 40-year-old's battle with breast cancer was recounted in a September special report in The Greenville News that revealed black women in the Upstate die from breast cancer at a much higher rate than blacks statewide and throughout the country.

Legislators have declined to use any of the state's $1 billion tobacco settlement windfall to broaden screening and treatment programs.

Part of the problem is that black women are often diagnosed at a later stage when the cancer is less treatable, they tend to be younger and they get a particularly virulent form of the disease, cancer experts said.

On Wednesday, Sanford took steps to remedy that by proposing the state spend $1 million to expand the Best Chance Network's coverage of 47- to 64-year-olds to include women as young as 18. And he proposed another $1 million for research at the Medical University of South Carolina's Ernest F. Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston.

The Republican's proposed $5.3 billion state budget for 2005-06 also puts more troopers on the road and beefs up prison security but provides no money to create a program aimed at raising the state's lagging SAT scores.

Legislators from both parties praised the cancer screening initiative. And Upstate breast cancer survivors said it will go a long way toward saving lives by detecting cancers earlier.

Now 40, Henderson was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 35 and after an initial remission is battling a recurrence of the disease. "Maybe next year," she said optimistically about getting more funding for breast cancer. "Maybe some more?"

Lamisha Goldsmith, who was diagnosed at 30, characterized both proposals as "awesome."

"I think that's wonderful," said the Greenville woman, now 31, who after chemotherapy is undergoing radiation before starting classes to become a certified nursing assistant — a decision she made since becoming ill.

"More research needs to be done," she said. "Maybe the next person may have a quicker recovery than mine."

Like many young women, neither Henderson nor Goldsmith ever thought breast cancer was possible in someone their age.

"With so many women, especially young ones, who don't even think about it, or don't have the insurance to do anything about it, that's really good to hear," Powdersville resident Kathy Rice, 48, another breast cancer survivor, said of Sanford's proposal.

"We need it so much because it's appearing in younger women all the time," said Bette Cantrell of Greer, who was diagnosed three years ago at 55. "There are women who just don't know they're at risk. And they should start mammograms much sooner than they're being told."

Greenville radiologist Dr. Kandace Farmer also said she was encouraged by the news.

"This will include all those patients we weren't able to reach with the Best Chance Network," she said. "Hopefully they will take advantage of this opportunity because early detection is key."

The Upstate affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation had been advocating for an increase of $1.5 million in the Best Chance Network, said president Mary Lynn Faunda Donovan. Nonetheless, she called Sanford's proposal "an excellent step in the right direction."

"We also applaud him for expanding the age limits to include women between 18 and 46," she said. "This has been a key gap in the current eligibility criteria."

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, hailed the additional cancer funding as "absolutely necessary" and predicted it would meet with consensus approval after the Legislature convenes Tuesday.

Sanford's focus on preventive health care scored with Sen. Darrell Jackson, a Columbia Democrat.

"I like additional money for breast cancer screening," he said. "If that's enough, that's fine. Maybe there needs to be more. I think anything dealing with preventive health is a good idea."

Sanford said during a press conference that stressing prevention is common sense. "The more money we can spend on health care early in the process, the greater the dividends," he said.

The Hollings Center funding would be used to attract more research grants and treatment resources and help the facility win accreditation as a comprehensive cancer center. More than 17,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed each year in South Carolina.

Currently the Department of Health and Environmental Control's early detection program limits screening to women from 47 to 65 whose incomes are 200 percent below the poverty level.

DHEC Commissioner C. Earl Hunter has called for it to include the 18-46 group, but didn't include a projected cost. The program, the Best Chance Network, is federally funded and is administered by DHEC.

On Wednesday, Hunter said the agency is analyzing Sanford's proposal to determine how many more women might be served.

"We certainly are encouraged by the governor's proposal to increase cancer screening for more women, which is a great need in South Carolina," he said.

But there will be no crash program for SAT scores.

Sanford said he believed that other initiatives from greater spending flexibility for local school districts to greater choices of schools for students to increased graduation rates will boost SAT scores.

Saying that one size doesn't fit all, Sanford told reporters he doesn't believe programs aimed solely at raising test scores are effective, particularly given the state's limited resources.

"He's wrong," Columbia Democrat James Smith, the outgoing House minority leader, said of Sanford's indirect approach. Smith said it's too slow and lacks the focus to address the problem.

The News reported on last month that the state Education Department's SAT prep course funding has been cut by 75 percent, to $240,000, since 2002 and the optional courses don't reach every college-bound student.

While South Carolina has achieved the fastest rate of SAT growth among the 50 states — 32 points over the last five years — it has fallen back to the lowest average score.

But Rep. Harry Cato, R-Travelers Rest, said Sanford made no mistake.

"I'm not for doing anything that artificially improves scores," Cato said, adding that he doesn't consider the SAT to be a valid measure of student's readiness for college.