People used to say everyone knows someone who's had breast cancer. In the past few weeks, I've learned something else: Everyone has someone close to them who has had breast cancer.

Every woman needs to know the facts. And the fact is, when it comes to breast cancer, every woman is at risk.

Breast cancer is not just a disease that strikes at women. It strikes at the very heart of who we are as women: how others perceive us, how we perceive ourselves, how we live, work and raise our families-or whether we do these things at all.

And I'll tell you, honestly, folks that I talk to, the 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in America, that I am one of, understand that we're done with insurance companies dropping us or denying us coverage because of - because we have a preexisting condition.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.

I've beaten the odds so far. Only 10 to 20 percent of women with ovarian cancer live past five years. And I'm lucky. Even though the cancer keeps coming back, I've never felt sick or in pain.