Sen. John F. Kerry’s wife has breast cancer

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Teresa Heinz Kerry says she is being treated for breast cancer discovered through a mammogram and wants younger women to keep undergoing the tests annually despite a federal panel’s recent recommendation to reduce their frequency.

The 71-year-old wife of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts says the cost of mammography is less than the pain women face if their cancer goes undetected early and they have to be treated with chemotherapy.

Heinz says her cancer was discovered through an annual mammogram. Doctors initially thought it was confined to her left breast but later determined it was in her right breast also.

Heinz has had two lumpectomies since October and will undergo a new form of radiation treatment next month.

-- Associated Press