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Beth Dresser's Story

As a deacon of the Third Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, Beth Dresser is used to helping others. As a cancer survivor, she learned to help herself.

"The doctors tell me if I had waited another year that it would have been too late," says Mrs. Dresser. "Either I would be deceased or I would be well on my way."

The story this 54-year old grandmother tells is not remarkable because it is so unique. After all, if detected early, breast cancer has a five-year survival rate of over 95 percent. Mrs. Dresser's story is remarkable because her situation is so common.

"My husband had lost his full-time job so I had no insurance," recalls Mrs. Dresser. "Like a lot of people, if you don't have insurance, you don't have a lot of things done, so I didn't have mammograms for about five years."

Then last year, Mrs. Dresser learned about the program that helped saved her life. Ladies First is a program of the Vermont Department of Health. It provides free breast and cervical cancer screening for women with limited incomes through the funding it receives from the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP).