Kathey Dailey had never had a mammogram. Not at 45, not at 50, not at 59. Then a trip to the emergency room for stomach pain in 2023 ended with a uterine cancer diagnosis, and her doctors urged her to finally get screened. She did. Two days later, a follow-up call confirmed breast cancer too. Today she is being treated for stage four metastatic breast cancer.
The detail that makes this story matter for our area is insurance. Dailey was self-employed and uninsured at the time of her screening, and Project Pink covered the cost of that mammogram. The program operates through a partnership between Levine Cancer and Charlotte Radiology that brings free mobile mammogram screenings to uninsured women, and Dailey says the team helped her navigate every step of the process. Dr. Rhea Rogers notes that self-breast exams combined with mammograms provide the best chance of catching cancer early.
Here on the Suncoast, thousands of retirees, snowbirds, and self-employed workers fall into the gap between having coverage and having none. Free and low-cost screening programs exist in most communities, but they only work if people know about them and use them. Have you checked when you or someone you love last had a mammogram?
