North Texas woman credits newspaper ad for helping detect her breast cancer

She said it caught her attention because it was offering free mammograms. She decided to call the number, was screened and learned of her diagnosis.

During this Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she’s sharing her story.

Frances Ruiz was laid off from work in September 2013. By December, it was time for her mammogram.

“I told my husband that I’m not working. I’m just going to stay home,” she recalled. “And I don’t have health insurance. I just don’t have it, so I can’t do my mammogram anymore.”

The next two years of Ruiz’s life involved what she calls a miraculous, emotional twist of fate.

Ruiz was watching the Cowboys play at her son’s home. In an effort to be more engaged, she almost left her Sunday newspaper at home.

“I said no, I’m gonna take it because I always like to look at the articles and sales,” she recalled. “There was a commercial. I pulled out the newspaper and was looking through the newspaper. And in one corner, it said Moncrief Institute free mammograms for uninsured women.”

The opportunity revealed her diagnosis.

“I was stage one, grade three,” Ruiz said.

Dr. Ina Patel with the Moncrief Cancer Institute says Ruiz’s story is an example of why they are using a federal grant to push their mobile breast cancer screening clinic, targeting uninsured and underinsured patients.

“The goal of Moncrief with this grant is to go out all throughout DFW, not just in Fort Worth, and provide free screenings for patients,” she said. “Because all it takes is one mammogram to tell you have a mass or calcifications.”

Ruiz, who is a mom of two and a grandmother of five, can attest to that. She says she would not be here today if she hadn’t noticed Moncrief’s ad in the paper.

“Whoever decided to put that ad in the paper, whoever decided to do that, they saved my life,” she said. “I’m sitting here because of Moncrief, and I will forever be grateful to them.”