When gynecologist Samia al-Amoudi was found last year to have breast cancer, a disease that still carries an intense stigma in this conservative country where women are forced to cover in public, she decided to share the details in her newspaper column, shocking many Saudis.
But the 50-year-old single mother insisted on telling her story in more than 30 television, magazine and newspaper interviews, trying to force a spotlight, she said, on a disease believed to be the leading cause of death among Middle Eastern women.
This … visit to Saudi Arabia by first lady Laura Bush … on a regional tour to raise awareness about breast cancer, is a windfall to Amoudi’s battle to bring the issue to the public, she said. "The fact that there is a lot of media coverage of your visit, and people know you are here only for the purpose of spreading breast cancer awareness, that gives it importance and will really help our campaign," Amoudi told Bush. …
Despite tense relations between the United States and the Arab world since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Iraq war, women in the region have been grateful for the breast cancer partnership, Amoudi said. "This goes beyond political, cultural and religious differences," she said. "This binds women from all parts of the world." Access the full article>>