Scott Powers
Patricia Mica, wife of U.S. Rep. John Mica, has been awarded the national Cancer Prevention Foundation’s Congressional Families Leadership Award.
She received the award in a bicameral event, for her guidance in the congressional spouse community and more than two decades of dedication to the Congressional Families Program. Her recent personal experience with colon cancer has renewed her commitment to the fight against cancer through education and community outreach in her district and beyond.
The Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program began in 1991 as a partnership between the Prevent Cancer Foundation and the Congressional Club, a bipartisan organization of spouses of members of the House, Senate, Cabinet, and Supreme Court. Spouses active in the program share an interest in advancing cancer prevention, early detection, and education.
In addition to Mica’s award, Summer Sanders received the Excellence in Cancer Awareness Award for her passionate advocacy for skin cancer prevention. As an elite swimmer and Olympic gold medalist, Sanders spent many years in the pool and in the sun. She was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in October 2014 after insisting that her dermatologist remove a suspicious mole. Now a three-time melanoma survivor, Ms. Sanders lends her voice to education and awareness programs and promotes skin cancer prevention through social media.
And Amy Robach, news anchor for ABC News on “Good Morning America,” accepted the Distinguished Service in Journalism Award for media leadership. Since an on-air mammogram at the age of 40 discovered her breast cancer, Robach has been a vocal proponent of the importance of annual mammograms for women beginning at age 40. She recounts her diagnosis and recovery in “Better: How I Let Go of Control, Held On to Hope, and Found Joy in My Darkest Hour.”
Congressman Mica is seeking re-election against Democratic nominee Stephanie Murphy in Florida’s 7th Congressional District, which covers north-central and northeast Orange County and Seminole County.
