Teresa Heinz, the wife of Senator John Kerry, revealed on Wednesday that she is battling breast cancer after receiving "a lifesaving early diagnosis." Read on for details…

Heinz wrote in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial titled "Get that Mammogram," "I was diagnosed and treated for stage one cancer (two different types) in both breasts. The cancer was detected at an early stage thanks to a mammogram and the work of a remarkable physician who insisted on investigating beyond what the mammogram could show. I have had two operations and my prognosis for a full recovery is good."

Heinz, 71, urges women to make regular mammograms a priority and said that her illness has "reminded me to slow down, cherish family and friends, and deepen my sense of life as a gift to be unwrapped each day with newfound joy and hope."

She also spoke out against the new, controversial guidelines from the U.S. Preventative Service Task Force that suggest that women under 50 no longer need to get annual mammograms, while those over the age of 74 could forgo the procedure.

According to the Associated Press, Heinz was treated by the surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital that she had recommended to Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Kerry's 2004 running mate John Edwards. Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her husband's failed vice-presidential campaign.

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