April Gresham lost her job and her insurance, and with no paycheck, she lost her car, too.

When a startling diagnosis of breast cancer meant a mastectomy and chemotherapy were in her future, the Williamston resident agonized over how she was going to pay for it all.

But that turned out to be the one thing she didn't have to worry about. Gresham is one of 361 women -- 77 of them in the Upstate -- who have been helped by the South Carolina Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program since it began a year ago, says Mary Lynn Faunda Donovan, executive director of the Upstate's Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation affiliate.

The program covers the cost of treatment for women between 18 and 64. Previously, it only covered women 47 to 64, after which Medicare takes over. But advocates fought for the change because many younger women get breast cancer, too -- like 39-year-old Gresham.

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"I knew I could not pay those hospital bills," she says. "If it hadn't been for this state program, I probably would not have made it."

With a new $1 million appropriation from the Legislature this year, and another $3.76 million in matching federal Medicaid funds, the program stands ready to fund treatment for even more low-income women, Donovan says.

Nearly 3,300 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year in South Carolina, said Donovan. And 630 will die of it. And because uninsured women are often diagnosed at a later stage, they are more likely to die from the disease.

So this year's Pink Sunday is focused on raising awareness about the treatment program, Donovan said.

Pink Sunday is an event designed to inform women about breast cancer through their houses of worship. This year marks the third annual Pink Sunday, which will be held Oct. 29.

To be eligible for the program, women must be uninsured, have proof of U.S. citizenship and have an income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level -- $19,600 for a single person, $26,400 for two people and $40,000 for a family of four.

Want to know more about the South Carolina Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program? Or need a free mammogram? Call 1-888-549-0820 or go to www.dhhs. state.sc.us. Or get an application by going to http://www.upstateraceforthecure.org/ and clicking on "Treatment Program," or by calling 864-298-CURE.