ABC Chicago, May 2009

Actress-comedienne Fran Drescher likes to say, "I got famous, then I got cancer, and now I live to talk about it."

May 5, 2009 -- Actress-comedienne Fran Drescher likes to say, "I got famous, then I got cancer, and now I live to talk about it." The first and most famous TV nanny, Drescher is a survivor of uterine cancer who's now on a mission to save the lives of other women. She's the founder of Cancer Schmancer, www.cancerschmancer.org, a foundation that gets its name from the title of her best-selling book about her battle with cancer.

"When I went on my book tour, I realized that what happened to me had happened to millions of women like me. And so it was then I realized the book was not the end but rather the beginning of a life mission to improve women's healthcare in America," Drescher says.

While many women's cancers cannot be prevented, the survival rates and quality of life for women with cancer can be significantly improved through proper patient education and coaching, early detection, and timely, appropriate treatment, she says. For example, the five-year survival rate after treatment for Stage 1 breast and gynecologic cancers is over 90% while the five-year survival rate for these same cancers in Stage 4 is less than 30%.

Drescher has testified before Congress and spoken to groups of doctors and researchers. This week she met with members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists www.acog.org at their annual clinical meeting here in Chicago. She's also hosting a fund raiser tonight at Carnivale, 702 W. Fulton, Chicago. For more information, contact Lonni Glickson at CSChicagoSocialCS@aol.com

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=resources&id=6795950