To reauthorize and enhance Johanna's Law to increase public awareness and knowledge with respect to gynecologic cancers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2941, a bill to reauthorize and enhance Johanna's Law to increase public awareness and knowledge with respect to gynecologic cancers. I would like to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee for bringing this vitally important bill to the Floor. I would also like to thank Representative Rosa DeLauro and Representative Darrell Issa who have been tireless champions of this bill. I am proud to have worked with them to enact the ``Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act''--also known as Johanna's Law--back in 2006; and I am proud to be a part of their efforts this year to reauthorize and enhance this program.

I first got involved in the fight against gynecologic cancer when Ms. Kolleen Stacey, a constituent of mine, who became a dear, dear friend, told me about her personal battle with ovarian cancer--the deadliest of the gynecological cancers. Kolleen told me about Johanna's Law, convinced me to become a co-sponsor; and she never stopped pushing me to get the bill signed into law; because she never wanted any other woman to go through what she was going through.

It took more than two years and a lot of hard work but in 2006, Johanna's Law became law and this country took a huge step forward towards fulfilling Kolleen's dream. On July 10, 2009, Kolleen tragically lost her fight with ovarian cancer. But I know that she is looking down on us today and smiling because her dream lives on in our actions today. God bless you Kolleen.

The American Cancer Society estimates that about 21,880 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed and 13,850 deaths are expected to be caused by ovarian cancer in the United States in 2010 alone. For the State of Indiana, The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2010, 450 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 300 women will die of ovarian cancer.

This is a tragedy. Research shows that many of those deaths could be prevented if

more women knew the risk factors and recognized the early symptoms of gynecologic cancers so that they could discuss them with their doctors. Ovarian cancer has a 93 percent five-year survival rate if detected in Stage One and only a 27 percent survival rate if detected in Stage Three or Four.

Yet, the majority of women and medical professionals are unaware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer. Women can go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years, like Kolleen Stacey. Just over five years ago on September 5, 2005, Kolleen testified before Congress about the need for legislation for added awareness and education on gynecological cancers. ``It took an entire year for me to be diagnosed correctly. By then the cancer was Stage IIIC, an advanced stage of ovarian cancer with only a 38 percent chance of complete cure. Had it been discovered in an early stage, I would have had a 90 percent chance of complete cure.''

That is why, in December 2006, Congress passed Johanna's Law, named for Johanna Silver Gordon, who lost her life to ovarian cancer despite being a health conscious woman who visited the gynecologist regularly. Like many women, Johanna had symptoms of ovarian cancer that were missed by both her and her healthcare provider.

Johanna's Law authorized the Centers for Disease Control to create a gynecologic cancer awareness campaign aimed at educating women and health care providers about the signs and symptoms of gynecologic cancers--bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency). The campaign, Inside Knowledge: Get the Facts About Gynecologic Cancer, seeks to raise awareness of the five main types of gynecologic cancer: ovarian, cervical, uterine, vaginal and vulvar. To date, the Inside Knowledge campaign has supported many activities, including the development of:

Cancer-specific fact sheets about gynecologic cancers in both English and Spanish,

A comprehensive gynecologic cancer brochure,

Formative research and concept testing using focus groups to better understand the target audience,

Materials for primary care and health care professionals, and

Print and broadcast Public Service Announcements (PSAs).

All materials created through Johanna's Law have been sent to television, radio and print outlets around the country. The CDC is tracking the airing of PSAs and audience impressions. The CDC is also reaching out to groups, encouraging the use of the materials.

We still have a long way to go but Johanna's law is making a difference. Doctors, nurses and cancer survivors agree--providing more information about gynecologic cancers saves women's lives.

H.R. 2941 reauthorizes and enhances this critically important awareness campaign. This legislation provides for the continuation of the education campaign started by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase the awareness and knowledge of health care providers and women with respect to gynecological cancers. It also enhances cooperation with non-governmental organizations carrying out complementary education and awareness campaigns.

H.R. 2941 is a good bill, it is good public policy. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I urge our colleagues in the Senate to act quickly and move this critically needed legislation to the President's desk for his signature. This is literally a matter of life and death.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 2941) to reauthorize and enhance Johanna's Law to increase public awareness and knowledge with respect to gynecologic cancers.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2941, a bill to reauthorize Johanna's Law. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of the bill's sponsor, Representative DeLauro, on this legislation. She has been a tireless supporter of this program and a staunch advocate for this reauthorization.

The bill reauthorizes an existing CDC program to educate women and health care providers about the detection and treatment of gynecological cancers. Gynecological cancers are diagnosed in over 80,000 American women annually and they kill nearly 28,000. The program educates women so that they can recognize the warning signs of gynecological cancers, because when such cancers are found early, treatment is most effective. The program also connects women to patient support services and key national organizations which are fighting gynecological cancers.

I know that many of my colleagues here today are cosponsors of the bill, and I urge you all in joining me in supporting it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I had intended to yield to the bill's author, our colleague from Connecticut, Representative DeLauro, but then her schedule precluded her from attending this hearing. So I am going to read her statement into the Record on her behalf.

Every hour, approximately 10 women in the United States are diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer such as ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancers. Each year, we lose over 26,000 of our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, and our friends to one of these terrible cancers. This is a tragedy.

Research shows that many of those deaths could be prevented if more women knew the risk factors and recognized the early symptoms of gynecologic cancers so that they could discuss them with their doctors. Some cancers have a dramatic difference in likely survival when they are diagnosed early. Ovarian cancer, as my colleague just referred to, for example, has just about a threefold difference in survivability between the early time it can be diagnosed and the later time it is often diagnosed.

In 2007, Johanna's Law, the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act, was enacted.

This important legislation created a gynecologic cancer education and awareness campaign which is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, to raise awareness of the five main types of gynecologic cancer: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar.

Johanna's Law was originally authorized for 3 years, and H.R. 2941 reauthorizes the program for another 3 years. This bill reauthorizes a national awareness and education program to ensure that those diagnoses are made as early as possible so that women can have a higher chance of survival and authorizes, in addition, funding of $18 million over the 3-year period. The bill has more than 150 bipartisan cosponsors in the House. It was passed by unanimous voice vote in late September, and the Senate passed revised language on December 10. It is important that we reauthorize Johanna's Law in this Congress to continue building upon the CDC's efforts to educate women and their health care providers.

In conclusion, our colleague Ms. DeLauro wants to thank Congressman Darrell Issa; Dan Burton, our colleague who has just spoken; and Sandy Levin for their committed leadership on this issue.

Ms. DeLauro. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of an important bill that enjoys strong and consistent bipartisan support--the reauthorization of Johanna's Law through 2014. This is an important vote. It will help to raise awareness of the warning signs of ovarian cancer.

Better awareness is one of the most critical tools we have. Research shows that many deaths from these diseases could be prevented if more women and health care providers knew the risk factors, and recognized the early symptoms of gynecologic cancers.

Better awareness might have helped Johanna Silver Gordon--in whose honor the bill is named. Johanna lost her life to ovarian cancer despite being a health-conscious woman who visited the gynecologist regularly. Like many women, Johanna had symptoms and clinical signs of ovarian cancer that were missed by both her and her healthcare provider. And her sister, Sheryl Silver, was determined never to let another sister, mother, daughter or friend go through the same thing.

This bill is a big step in that fight. It reauthorizes the existing CDC program that educates women and their health care providers about the symptoms of ovarian and other gynecological cancers. Put simply, it will save lives.

I want to thank Congressmen Darrell Issa, Dan Burton, and Sandy Levin for their committed leadership on this issue. And I urge my colleagues to vote for this legislation today. As Johanna's family can tell you, it really will make a difference.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Ovarian cancer, if it is caught early, has a 93-percent chance for 5- year survival for women with this terrible cancer, and if they don't catch it early, only 27 percent of the ladies that get it have a chance of survival.

This bill was named after Johanna Silver Gordon, who went to the doctor regularly for her physical. Her doctor missed the ovarian cancer that she had, and, like many women, because the doctor either misdiagnosed or missed it, she passed away, I believe in December of 2006.

This was brought to my attention by a very good friend, Ms. Kolleen Stacy, in Indiana, who had gynecological cancer. She fought it for many years and

she was a champion of Johanna's Law, and she brought to the attention of many people, including myself, the problems that women have by not knowing the signs of gynecological cancer problems, in particular ovarian cancer.

It is extremely important that this be caught early. For that reason, that is why this law is so important, because it gives women the opportunity to find out about the problems they may face early so that their survival rate can be increased.

I want to thank Darrell Issa, as well as our Democrat colleague who sponsored this bill, for bringing this to the floor a couple of years ago. I am very happy it is being reauthorized today.

What Johanna's Law does is it provides a cancer-specific fact sheet about gynecological cancers in both English and Spanish. It provides a comprehensive gynecological cancer brochure. It provides formative research and concept testing using focus groups to better understand the target audience.

It provides materials for primary care and health care professionals. And that is extremely important, because many physicians don't catch it. It is not because they don't want to; it is because the signs have not been very clearly defined and they haven't seen it. And it is extremely important that these materials for primary care and health care professionals be provided.

It provides print and broadcast public service announcements for women so that they can see on television maybe some of the symptoms that they have that might be leading to a gynecological-type cancer.

It also provides that all materials that have been created through Johanna's Law be sent to television, radio, and printout lists throughout the country. The CDC is tracking and airing the PSAs and audience impressions, and the CDC is also reaching out to groups encouraging the use of these materials.

As my colleague has stated, a lot of women have lost their lives or had their lives shortened because they didn't know the symptoms of gynecological cancer or ovarian cancer early enough.

This is a very important piece of legislation. I know that there are not a lot of people here speaking about it today, but women across the country who have suffered from various forms of cancer understand the import of legislation like this.

I would like to thank my colleagues in the Senate and my colleagues here in the House for bringing this legislation to the floor. Once again, I am very proud to be a cosponsor of it, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge the passage of H.R. 2941, to renew ``Johanna's Law'' to increase public awareness and knowledge of gynecological cancers. I am pleased to have introduced this important bill with Representatives DeLauro, Issa, and Burton. Johanna's Law established a national public information campaign to educate women and health care providers about the risk factors and early warning signs of gynecologic cancers. This bill before the House carries on that important life-saving work by extending funding of Johanna's Law from 2012 to 2014.

The law was named after Michigan resident Johanna Silver Gordon, a loving mother and dedicated public school teacher, who, despite visiting her doctor regularly, was blindsided by a diagnosis of late- stage ovarian cancer, learning only after her diagnosis that the symptoms she had been experiencing were common symptoms of that disease. Despite the best efforts of her physicians, tragically, Johanna lost her life to ovarian cancer 3\1/2\ years after being diagnosed.

Johanna's story is far too common. Although it has been 10 years since she died of ovarian cancer, and 4 years since Congress first passed this important legislation, each year over 71,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer and over 26,000 women are lost to one of these serious cancers. Many of those deaths could be prevented if more women knew and recognized the early symptoms of gynecologic cancers and received prompt treatment.

Today we continue to build on the work we began with the passage of the first Johanna's Law 4 years ago. Our best weapon against gynecological cancers is early detection. A woman's chance of survival is dramatically improved when the gynecological cancer is diagnosed early. Ovarian cancer causes more deaths in women than any other gynecological cancer; however, it has a 93 percent survival rate if detected in Stage One, but only a 20 percent survival rate if detected in Stage Three or Four.

Right now, awareness, education, early diagnosis, and treatment are the most effective weapons we have in our war against gynecological cancers. I urge my colleagues to support Johanna's Law so we can prevail in our battle against these terrible cancers that cut short the lives of our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, partners and friends. I urge passage of this very important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge the passage of H.R. 2941, to renew and enhance ``Johanna's Law'' to increase public awareness and knowledge of gynecological cancers. I am pleased to have introduced this important bill with Representatives DeLauro, Issa, and Burton.

Johanna's Law established a national public information campaign to educate women and health care providers about the risk factors and early warning signs of gynecologic cancers. This bill before the House carries on that important work by extending funding of Johanna's Law for 3 more years, from 2011 to 2014, and providing funds for demonstration projects to identify the most effective educational tools.

The law was named after Michigan resident Johanna Silver Gordon, a loving mother and dedicated public school teacher, who, despite visiting her doctor regularly, was blindsided by a late stage diagnosis of ovarian cancer, learning only after her diagnosis that the symptoms she had been experiencing were common symptoms of that disease. Tragically, Johanna lost her life to ovarian cancer 3\1/2\ years after being diagnosed.

Johanna's story is far too common. Although, it has been 10 years since Johanna Silver died of ovarian cancer, and 4 years since Congress passed this important legislation, each year over 71,000 women in U.S. are diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer and over 26,000 women are lost to one of these serious cancers. Many of those deaths could be prevented if more women knew and recognized the early symptoms of gynecologic cancers and received prompt treatment. For all gynecological cancers, early detection dramatically improves a woman's chance of survival. For instance, ovarian cancer causes more deaths in women than any other gynecological cancer; however, it has a 90 percent survival rate if detected in Stage One, but only a 20 percent survival rate if detected in Stage Three or Four.

Right now, awareness, education, early diagnosis, and treatment are the most effective weapons we have in our war against gynecological cancers. I urge my colleagues to support Johanna's Law so we can prevail in our battle against these terrible cancers that cut short the lives of our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, partners and friends. I urge the House to join me in voting for this vital legislation.