Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader shares her battle with breast cancer

PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, of Westmoreland County, revealed her battle with breast cancer on Tuesday.

She has a strong message for all women - get your mammograms.

It was a historic time for the state when Kim Ward was elected as the first female majority leader last November. However, just a few weeks later, that excitement was met with the difficult news of a breast cancer diagnosis.

It was stage 1 breast cancer, and the prognosis was good. By December, she’d had a lumpectomy and was undergoing chemo therapy. Still, she continued to work not wanting to go public yet.

“I had just won majority leader. I did not want this diagnosis at that time to interfere with my work. I worked right through the four chemo treatments. I never got sick,” Ward explained.

She kept moving forward and made it through the treatments. Now with the Senate Majority Leader platform, Ward has decided it’s important to share her story to help raise awareness.

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