Ruth Bader Ginsburg on International Women’s Day
You might have seen the trailers and posters for the upcoming Felicity Jones movie, On the Basis of Sex, which recounts the life story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. You might already know that Ruth is one of the most influential women of the last 100 years, advocating women’s rights and becoming the second female justice in United States history to be appointed to the Supreme Court!
But did you know that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a pancreatic cancer survivor? On International Women’s Day, we wanted to share Ruth’s story with you.
In 1999, Ruth was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and after surgery, her treatment included chemotherapy, radiation and working with a personal trainer. After all this, Ruth made a full recovery!
10 years later, in 2009, Ruth attended a routine general health check up and, although she wasn’t experiencing any symptoms, a CAT scan revealed a 1cm tumour in the middle of her pancreas. Ruth quickly underwent surgery to remove the body and tail of her pancreas along with her spleen. Her surgery went extremely well and to this day, Ruth is pancreatic cancer free.
It was this early diagnosis that puts Ruth in the 1% of people that survive 10 years or more and has allowed her to continue being a major influence amongst new generation feminists.
Pancreatic cancer is set to become one of the UK’s top 4 cancer killers by 2026, with 27 people currently being newly diagnosed everyday. Awareness of the disease is vital,, more now than ever before. Knowing what the pancreas does and why it’s so important is crucial to recognising when something might be wrong. Knowing the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer could provide the early diagnosis needed to save a life.
Click here to become pancreatic cancer aware and learn the signs and symptoms.
References
https://www.pancan.org/news/two-great-women-two-great-movies/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg