Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand goes to bat for the Young Survivor’s Coalition

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Lawmakers are swapping bills for bats Wednesday at the annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game.

The tradition started IN 2009 with a diagnosis.

“My dear friend, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, survived breast cancer, and she was a young survivor,” said founding member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. “She was somebody who got breast cancer in her forties, and that’s rare. And so she asked if I would play a softball game every year to raise money to raise awareness for young women with breast cancer.”

The lawmakers squared off against print, television and digital reporters from Capitol Hill. It’s a cause for which Sen. Gillibrand is happy to go to bat.

“We raised, I think, as a group, millions of dollars,” said Sen. Gillibrand, “This is something that we care deeply about because so many young women in their thirties, twenties, thirties and forties would never get a mammogram, would never even do a breast exam. And they need to because they’re absolutely vulnerable.”

She says along with raising money - it’s a good example of what can happen when people work together.

“You know, we get a lot done in the Senate. There’s a lot of bipartisanship But some of the best friendships start here. And so we feel really blessed that we have each other and that we can do this together as something outside of work. But it definitely bleeds over into the work and we often work together.”

According to the Cleveland Clinic - those aged 40 and below make up about 5 percent of all breast cancer cases.

All the proceeds of this game will be going to the Young Survivor Coalition. The game has already raised a half a million dollars.

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