Fran Drescher sat in the doctor's office -- her eighth different doctor in two years -- knowing that all of the diagnoses she'd received for ongoing gynecologic problems fell short of a true answer.

Despite obvious early warning signs, all of the doctors failed to recognize she had uterine cancer. Only after a battery of tests and years wasted taking drugs for conditions she did not have did the actress finally receive an endometrial biopsy.

"Three days later [the doctor] called to tell me I had adenocarcinoma, uterine cancer," Drescher recalled. "I dropped to my knees and wept … I felt very betrayed by the medical community. Why did it take me so long to get a proper diagnosis?"

Sadness quickly gave way to anger about how the U.S. health insurance system often makes it hard to get the proper tests needed to diagnose gynecologic issues. After a radical hysterectomy and years of healing time have left her cancer-free, Drescher is turning that anger into action.

"I lived to talk about it, so I'm talking," she said. "We have the ability to see real change and shift the course of women's health."

Drescher came to Georgetown at the invitation of the School of Nursing and Health Studies for the McAuley Lecture, a series on health care issues. The actress-turned-activist is promoting her "Cancer Schmancer" movement, named after a book she wrote on her experience. She is on a mission to educate women about health issues, plus take her message to Capitol Hill about the importance of training doctors and funding research in women's health.

In January, President George W. Bush signed the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act, or "Johanna's Law," which Drescher lobbied extensively for on the Hill. The law authorizes development of a national campaign to educate women and health professionals about the signs of ovarian and other gynecologic cancers.

Drescher is making the rounds on Capitol Hill again to secure funding and ensure the $16.5 million over three years outlined in Johanna's Law is used effectively.

Getting all women's cancers diagnosed in stage 1, when it is most curable, is key, Drescher said. The five-year survival rates for ovarian cancer diagnosed at stage 1 is 92 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University. The rate for those diagnosed at late stage 3 or stage 4 is between 17 and 11 percent.

But all too often, women are misdiagnosed or have a delayed diagnosis, as Drescher experienced. She recounted the frustration of doctors who insisted that she could not have cancer because of her age and thin body frame.

In her typical fashion, Drescher lightened the story's tone -- "I swear I got in the stirrups more than Will Rogers," she joked -- but the underlying message about Cancer Schmancer is serious one.

Women have to be their own health advocates, she stressed. Insist on additional tests if unsatisfied with a doctor's explanation or results, even if the cost is out of pocket, she added.

"Frankly I blamed myself as much as my doctors" for missed diagnoses, Drescher said, "because I didn't know what to ask for and I didn't know what the early warning systems were for the cancers that could affect me."

Too often women are timid around doctors, or try putting their family ahead of themselves, Drescher said. Speaking on the role of women in nuclear families, Drescher believes a woman who puts her health first actually is protecting her family.

"At all costs, we must keep the woman healthy and living. This is very revolutionary thinking because most women have a very Victorian sense about their health," she explained. "They put everything else before themselves."

Drescher's advice to students pursuing health care careers is to listen to their patients and never be afraid to seek out additional answers to health mysteries. She also encouraged them to get involved politically to change the status quo.

"It's only this generation of people that become really active in changing the way government works," she said. "You can work as an individual and do good for a lot of people. But for real change on a grand scale that's going to shift the course of women's health history, we have to galvanize."

-- By Lauren Burgoon, Blue & Gray Assistant Editor

(October 3, 2007)