Ann Romney has surgery to remove precancerous lump
Former governor Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, who has spoken candidly of her battle with multiple sclerosis, disclosed that she has been diagnosed with a precancerous lump in her breast and underwent surgery yesterday to have the tissue removed.
In a statement released by an aide, Ann Romney said she was undergoing her annual mammogram at Brigham and Women's Hospital last week when she was diagnosed with Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. The statement said that the diagnosis, commonly known as DCIS, is not technically considered cancer because it has not become invasive.
"Mitt and I feel fortunate to have caught this so early," Romney said in the statement. "And, it reminds us how important it is for women to have regular mammograms. As in all cases of cancer, early detection is critical."
The statement said the surgery did not require Romney to stay overnight. It did not mention which hospital she used, but an aide said it was in Salt Lake City.
"She's doing fine," her brother, Jim Davies, said in an interview yesterday. "She views it as a nuisance in that we've got lot of cancer in our family and she's just got a lot of things that she wants to be doing and really did not want to deal with this."
Davies said his sister's doctors were satisfied with the procedure and expect to receive pathology results next week that will help determine what follow-up treatment, if any, will be needed. In many cases, patients who undergo the surgery, known as lumpectomy, receive six weeks of radiation therapy afterward. In the vast majority of cases, they make a full recovery.
"The prognosis is excellent," said Beverly Moy, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. "She should do just fine."
Romney, a 59-year-old mother of five, kept a relatively low profile during her husband's four years as governor. During his presidential campaign, she emerged more prominently as an advocate on his behalf, traveling the country and sharing stories about their family.
Frequently introduced by Mitt Romney as "my sweetheart," the former Ann Davies met her husband at a party in 1965, when he was 18 and she was 15. They married in 1969.
While shying away from discussions of policy, she has spoken frankly of her battle with multiple sclerosis, even confiding that she wanted to die after she was diagnosed in 1998 and was weak for several years afterward.
More recently, she has said she was feeling well, and had credited her health to yoga, Pilates, reflexology, and acupuncture, as well as a diet low in sugar and white flour. She also loves horses and tries to ride every day, she has said.
Susan L. Troyan, a breast surgeon who is director of the breast care program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said that for DCIS patients who detect the cells early and have them removed the risk of dying is "very, very, very tiny."
Davies said his sister is facing the diagnosis like a trouper.
"Ann just kind of takes these things in stride and sets her feet to deal with it and moves forward," he said. "She's learned a lot of lessons with her battle with MS over the years so this is another bump in the road."
Mitt Romney, considered a possible contender for the presidency in 2012, has said that if his wife's health ever declined, he would abandon politics.
His wife is not the first political spouse to face such a diagnosis.
Betty Ford was credited with raising awareness about breast cancer when, less than two months into her husband's presidency, she spoke out about being diagnosed with the disease and undergoing a mastectomy. Nancy Reagan underwent a mastectomy in 1987, but was criticized for choosing the more radical surgery rather than a lumpectomy. In March 2007, Elizabeth Edwards announced that she had cancer in an incurable form.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 