Iowa Senator Who Lost Breast Cancer Battle Showed Other Survivors How to Live

In her last months on Earth, Iowa State Sen. Pat Ward did what cancer survivors are told to do by their caregivers.

She lived.

“We tell women struggling with the disease, "Continue to lead as normal life as you possibly can, because that’s how you restore yourself back to normalcy,” said Roger Dahl, executive director of the Susan G. Komen Iowa affiliate.

“With breast cancer, or any form of cancer, or any of the tough situations life throws at us, you have got to have hope,” he said. “If you don’t have hope, you don’t have anything.”

Normalacy for Ward, 55, was an unforgiving schedule as she campaigned for re-election to her seat in the Iowa Senate, where she has served as assistant majority leader.

Her husband, John Ward, said his wife was “engaged and having a good time in her re-election campaign right up until the end.” It was only in recent days that she gave in to the disease, he said, and canceled her public appearances. She died Monday.

That she lost her three-year battle with breast cancer during a month set aside to increase awareness about a disease that will affect one in eight women is "ironic" Dahl said.

Ward Will be Honored at Oct. 27 Race for the Cure

He and his staff wrestled some with the opportunity the death of a well-known public figure presents for the Des Moines organization, which is holding its annual Race for the Cure on Oct. 27. It starts and ends on the Iowa State Capitol grounds.

They’re working out the details of how to honor Ward in a special ceremony on race day, Dahl said. The ceremony honors women who have lost their battles with breast cancer since the last race – on average, that’s about two dozen Iowa women a year – but Dahl said Ward’s death illustrates that breast cancer affects people from all backgrounds and emphasizes the importance of early detection.

“To me, it serves as a reminder that breast cancer is completely indiscriminate in who it effects. It affects government leaders, it affects captains of industry, it affects farmers’ wives and daughters, it affects urban housewives, it affects the poor and it affects the well-off,” he said. “It affects one in eight women at some time in their lives.”

A public ceremony recognizing Ward’s public battle against breast cancer is appropriate, said her friend Loretta Sieman, who is behind scores of charitable causes, including Bras for the Cause, which raises money so low-income women don’t have to skip mammograms.

“When she got breast cancer, she was open and told women the importance of getting mammograms,” said Sieman. “She never hid behind it.”

Constituents in Ward's district, which includes parts of West Des Moines, Waukee and Clive, were stunned because she fought the disease with the same political energy she devoted to business and mental health issues, two of her hallmarks in the Iowa Senate, according to Sieman.

“She believed that she could beat it,” Sieman said. “She’d beaten the first round and she believed she could beat it again. She didn’t do it to be dramatic."

"Make Sure You Have Your Mammograms"

Sieman said her friend’s death makes a powerful statement:

“The biggest message from Pat Ward is to take care of yourself, never give up on yourself, never give up on your life and make sure you have your mammograms.”

Ward’s death underscores the importance of early detection, which is credited with saving thousands of lives a year, Dahl said.

“It brings the issue to the forefront,” he said. “The goal from the very beginning when Race for the Cure first started in 1980s was to bring breast cancer out into the open. How do you respectfully tell folks to check themselves out? It goes back to who’s in control of your own body and your health.

“The doctor can’t look at you when you walk in the office and say, ‘It looks like you have breast cancer.’ You have to say, ‘Doctor, I stepped out in the shower and something doesn’t look right.’ “