Coral Levang, Contributing writer

When first lady Betty Ford announced to the world in 1978 her breast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy at the age of 56, her openness raised awareness of the disease.

According to ABCNews.com, Ford told Time magazine, "When other women have this same operation, it doesn't make any headlines, but the fact that I was the wife of the president ... brought before the public this particular experience I was going through. It made a lot of women realize that it could happen to them."

This profoundly affected another breast cancer sufferer, Susan Komen, according to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Web site. Komen told sister, Nancy Brinker, "Nan, if Mrs. Ford can admit she has breast cancer and tell the whole world she intends to fight it, well then so can I."

Throughout recent history, other famous women who have battled breast cancer publicly have given women around the world additional motivation to fight the dread disease.

• Julia Child The chef was particularly candid about having a mastectomy in 1974, according to ABCNews.com. Her no-nonsense approach to cooking carried over to cancer. She survived 30 more years, dying at age 91 of natural causes.
• Justice Sandra Day O'Connor In the 1980s, breast cancer made news when first female Supreme Court justice was diagnosed at age 58. According to ABCNews.com, Justice O'Connor fulfilled a speaking engagement the day before her mastectomy. Ten days after her surgery, she was "back on the bench ... without missing an oral argument."
• Nancy Reagan The first lady was diagnosed in autumn 1987. She raised controversy by deciding to have a modified mastectomy instead of a lumpectomy. Her choice was made in part because any radiation or chemotherapy treatment would have interfered with her responsibilities as first lady, according to ABCNews.com. A 22-year survivor, she is now 88.
• Ann Jillian Breast cancer hit the sex symbol, actress and motivational speaker in the mid-1980s at the age of 35. She made a TV movie, "The Ann Jillian Story," delivering her message of hope. According to AnnJillian.com, she became a mother seven years after her diagnosis.
• Olivia Newton-John In 1992, the 43-year-old singer/actress made headlines with her diagnosis the same weekend her father died, according to ABCNews.com. She considered homeopathy and acupuncture because of her fear of chemotherapy, reported CNN.com.
  She had a modified radical mastectomy and partial breast reconstruction, later claiming that chemo had not been nearly what she had feared.
• Christina Applegate The actress became a breast cancer survivor at the age of 36 in April 2008. According to Oprah.com, Applegate had a mammography every year since age 30 because her mother had breast cancer. With an MRI, cancer was found in her left breast. Applegate took an aggressive approach -- a bilateral mastectomy -- and later opted for implant reconstruction.

The willingness of these celebrities to speak out and advocate for continued research to find a cure for breast cancer is important because it puts the disease in a public light. Awareness is raised, more people become proactive in breast health, and more money is raised for research. Through this awareness and earlier detection, lives are saved.