LETTERS: PLEASE SUPPORT RELAY FOR LIFE AUG. 6

To the editor:

On May 28, at the age of 54, my sister lost a three-year battle with breast cancer.

On June 4 I read an article in the Southeast Missourian stating that an estimated 175,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the United States this year. And nationwide, breast cancer is expected to kill about 43,700 women this year.

If courage and willpower to live through mammography-chemotherapy and radiation were a cure, my sister would be alive today. And the above numbers would be for lives saved, not lost. But the truth is these are only weapons. We have to find a way to prevent breast cancer. And to do that we need more research. And for that we need more money.

I'm asking anyone who had the privilege and honor to know my sister, or anyone who has lost someone or knows someone still fighting this disease, to donate to the Cape County Relay for Life Aug. 6.

PATSY WELLS ELLIS

Cape Girardeau