A former California congresswoman who survived being shot five times during the Jonestown massacre in Guyana announced this week that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Former Rep. Jackie Speier, who represented San Mateo County and San Francisco from 2008 to 2021, posted on the social media platform X on Thursday about her diagnosis.
“I just became one of the 300,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year,” the politician wrote. “The good news is that it was caught in time and I had a successful lumpectomy on Tuesday.”
I have some personal news that I want to share with you because we can all learn from it. I have just become one of the 300,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.
The good news is that they caught it in time and I had a successful lumpectomy on Tuesday.— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) July 4, 2024
Speier said she almost skipped her annual mammogram because of a busy summer schedule, but then decided to go, which led to her cancer diagnosis.
“The lesson here is: please be diligent with your own controls and don’t bypass them,” he wrote.
Speier was an aide to then-Representative Leo J. Ryan in 1978, when members of the Jonestown settlement opened fire on them as they tried to leave Guyana for the United States after a visit there. Speier's boss was among the dead, but she survived five gunshot wounds.
As a congresswoman, Speier was an outspoken advocate for women's reproductive rights and spoke in a 2011 speech on the House floor about her abortion.
Prior to serving in Congress, Speier served on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and the state Legislature.
