As Americans paused this week to remember former President Gerald Ford, some also took time to acknowledge the courage of former First Lady Betty Ford for her struggles with addiction and breast cancer and her advocacy on these issues.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Dec. 29 that Mrs. Ford's candor and outspokenness on previously hushed subjects not only won her great respect but changed the national dialogue on these diseases.

Mrs. Ford, 88, is still closely associated with the Betty Ford Center, the nation's most prominent addiction-treatment program. "The very fact that there is a center with the name of the first lady on it continues to give more respect and recognition" to her contributions, said Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, founder of Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Aliquippa, Pa. Twerski said that when Mrs. Ford disclosed in 1978 that she had been admitted to an addiction-treatment program it was "a significant watershed in bringing the problem of the woman alcoholic and pill addict to the fore."

"It really broke through a barrier. It was not only courageous for a woman, but also for a first lady," Twerski said. "Traditionally, alcoholism was thought to be a male disease, and alcoholism when it occurred in a woman was much more covered up."

Similarly, JoAnn Meier, executive director of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in Pittsburgh, said Ford's openness about her breast cancer in the 1970s -- including acknowledging and discussing her mastectomy -- "had a great impact on the whole cause. She is an extremely courageous woman ... Someone as prominent as Betty Ford coming out and openly talking about breast cancer let people know that if breast cancer is detected early you have a chance of leading a long life, as she has done."