The family of a young woman who died from cancer has been fighting to save other women from the same fate.
After a unanimous vote in the Delaware House, Dwain and Karen Johnson walked back to Delaware's capitol building to try and get a similar outcome in the Senate.
One by one every single senator said their daughter's name, Faith Deanna Johnson, as they voted.
The Faith Deanna Johnson Act is named in honor of a former NBC10 digital team intern and it guarantees coverage for Ovarian Cancer testing through health insurance plans. It also provides more tests for patients who have received treatment.
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"Today is an excellent day," her father, Dwain Johnson, told NBC10. "Her name will always be etched in memory and law here in the state of Delaware.”
Delaware Gov. John Carney signed HB15 into law Thursday afternoon in Dover literally minutes after the Senate approved it.
“Us losing our daughter in 2021, with this bill, it’ll save so many lives, thousands and thousands and thousands of lives. And then hopefully, we’ll get the chance to take this federal," her father explained.
Health
State Rep. Valerie Maglio Longhurst took to Facebook to announce the bill and she explained why it was important to her.
"We often hear that early detection can save lives, but we need to go a step beyond acknowledging this fact and take concrete steps to ensure that people have access to the preventative services needed to detect and treat cancer in its earliest stages," Longhurst said.
Johnson was a graduate of Temple University with a Masters in Media Arts. She passed away at the age of 26 in 2021 after a battle with Ovarian Cancer.
It's a disease that will kill almost 13,000 American women this year, and in Faith's case, it wasn't detected when she asked her doctor about in 2019.
Her mother, Karen Stephens-Johnson explained why early screening is so vital to combat a disease like this, “it’s not obvious until it becomes a problem. Ovarian Cancer is slow growing, and by the time you know it’s a problem, it’s too late. So it’s a silent killer”
Her family told NBC10 that they believe her death could have been preventable if this bill had been in place.
“Most of her symptoms were related to a menstrual cycle and so doctors often dismiss women, and especially women in color that have these types of issues," her mother said.
Her parents became overcome with emotion as lawmakers hugged them after the vote in the Senate. It was the ultimate show of bipartisanship and it shows that when everyone decides to come together on something in this little state, big things can happen.
"Teal represents Ovarian Cancer and most women don't know it," Johnson's mother said. "The color teal means so much more to us now."
For more information on the foundation in honor of Johnson, click here.
