Former Santa Clara Mayor Has Cancer

Posted by Silicon Valley Newsroom on Friday, September 30, 2011 Comments (1)

Patricia Mahan, Santa Clara’s vice mayor after serving as mayor from 2002 through 2010, says she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. While it is unclear if Mahan’s condition will require leave from her position, she reportedly is expected to fully recover with proper treatment.

“Thanks to a routine mammogram, my cancer was detected very early,” she was quoted as saying in the Marin Independent Journal. “So I’ll have surgery and a few therapies and I’m sure I will recover fully.”

As mayor, Mahan played a vital role in luring the San Francisco 49ers into building a $987 million stadium in her city. That project looks to be on its way to breaking ground in a little more than a year.

According to The American Cancer Society early detection leads to a significantly higher survival rate, stating first year survival rates from 88 to 93 percent for those who start treatment in the first two stages of the disease, compared to those who begin treatment in the final stage where a mere 15 percent of patients survive their next 5 years.

In related news, a bill awaiting Gov. Brown’s flick of the pen would require health care providers to notify women if they have high-density breast tissue, which can obscure the presence of cancerous tumors, according to California Healthline.

The bill, authored by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), could have great benefit for U-Systems, a breast screening equipment manufacture located in Simitian’s district. According to CA Healthline, this is not the first breast tissue notification bill U-Systems has played a part in. The company has encouraged breast cancer survivors to advocate for similar measures in other states.