American Cancer Society and Ortho Biotech Announce Collaboration To Benefit Breast Cancer Survivors

American Cancer Society
Tuesday, 25 January 2000

The American Cancer Society, the nation's leading voluntary health organization, announced today that it has entered into a three-year collaboration with Ortho Biotech Inc. in support of the Society's Reach to Recovery program for breast cancer survivors.

Reach to Recovery is a nationwide peer support program comprised of more than 17,000 breast cancer survivors who are trained to listen and respond to the concern of individuals facing a breast cancer diagnosis or treatment. While volunteers do not offer medical advice, they do provide individuals with the opportunity to ask questions of those who have experienced the disease.

"Our Reach to Recovery program is dedicated to making sure that no woman faces breast cancer alone," said Harmon J. Eyre, MD, national chief medical officer officer for the Society."These new funds will enable us to continue to enhance this program, which has served local communities nationwide for the past 30 years."

"We are very pleased to collaborate with the Society on this important outreach program for breast cancer survivors," said Carol Webb, Ortho Biotech president. "We chose to support Reach to Recovery because it is the nation's largest one-on-one peer counseling program providing the information and practical suggestions that breast cancer survivors need and want."

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 182,800 cases of invasive breast cancer will occur in American women this year and about 40,800 will die of the disease. In addition, approximately 1,400 American men will be diagnosed with the disease, and 400 will die this year.

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service. For information about cancer, call toll-free anytime 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit the American Cancer Society website at www.cancer.org.

Ortho Biotech Inc. is a Johnson & Johnson company that specializes in treatments for cancer patients.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org