Connecticut governor, M. Jodi Rell, is recovering from a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery at Danbury Hospital. She was diagnosed with breast cancer after having had a routine mammogram last week. The mammogram indicated a calcium deposit in one of her breasts. But, during a biopsy of this growth, two other cancerous growths were discovered. She is expected to remain hospitalized until Wednesday. Doctors are optimistic about the chances for a full recovery.

Rell, who is 58, became the governor after the previous governor, John G. Rowland, resigned on July 1. Rell had previously served as the Lt. Governor of the state.

Governor Rell has long been an advocate of routine mammograms and offered free mammograms to staff workers at the state house until 2002. She has also been instrumental in adding a check box to the Connecticut State income tax form, which designates $1 of the filer’s money to go to breast cancer research.

Rell had a personal interest in this disease, as her mother died from breast cancer. Women who have a history of this disease in their families may be more likely to develop breast cancer themselves.

The prognosis for Rell, and women like her, whose cancer is diagnosed early, is excellent. For women over 50, the five-year survival rate is 85 percent if the woman's tumor is smaller than two centimeters and the cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes. Early detection can find the tumors before the cancer spreads.

When a mastectomy is performed at this early stage, the patient can also avoid chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which can be difficult. Despite the advances made in treatment and early detection, The National Cancer Institute still estimates that in 2004 approximately 215,990 women in American will develop breast cancer and 40,110 will die.

Recently, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Senator John Edwards, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She chose to undergo a lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy.