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Home > News & Policies > May 2008

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For Immediate Release
Office of the Fist Lady
May 16, 2008

Mrs. Bush's Remarks on the U.S.-Saudi Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research
King Fahd Medical City
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Photos

5:24 P.M. (Local)

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be here at the King Fahd Medical City. I'm delighted to be in Riyadh again to talk about how we can work together to save women's lives by raising awareness of breast cancer.

Thanks especially to the mother of Muhammad and the mother of Naif for having the courage to share your stories with us. The most important thing we can do as women to reduce fatalities from breast cancer is to seek out so that other women know to be screened, to find out what we all heard, and that is we all cry if we get that diagnosis. We cry if our mother or our sisters get that diagnosis. But we can be there with each other. We can work with great doctors like these doctors, and we can save lives by speaking out. So thank you very much.

I'm proud that our two countries, Saudi Arabia and the United States, have come together to reach out to women, both in my country and in your country, in this U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, because we're saving lives, and I think we're making lasting friendships, as well, between the women of my country and the women of your country.

I'd like to introduce my friend, Ambassador Nancy Brinker, who founded the Komen Foundation for the Cure. Nancy's sister, Susan Komen, died of breast cancer, and Nancy made a pledge to herself that she would reach out to women. She thought when she made this pledge in the United States to make sure that other women could detect their cancer early enough to be treated. And as it's turned out, the Komen Foundation is now reaching out to women around the world. Thank you very much, Ambassador Brinker. Thank you for joining us here.

Thank you all very much. Thank you for coming out. Thank you for reaching out to women around Saudi Arabia, across the country, to get the message to them to be screened. It's a good time for us to tell our mothers and our sisters and all of our friends to be screened so that we can treat breast cancer early while it's still treatable. And thank you very much. Thank you for your warm hospitality, and thank you for your friendship. (Applause.)

END 5:29 P.M. (Local)

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