The following is an excerpt from one our new volunteer’s blogs, Jane Gewant. She is a breast cancer survivor and we’re very happy to have her support!
When I think of the color pink I think of my bedroom growing up in Riverdale, cotton candy, the pink panther and breast cancer.
This October I had the wonderful opportunity to do some great volunteer work for both the Maurer Foundation and Pink Aid. The Maurer Foundation is a non-profit organization established by breast surgeon Dr. Virginia Maurer to educate young people about the risk factors of breast cancer, how to do a proper breast self exam and how healthy life choices can reduce the potential for the disease. Dr. Maurer just so happens to be my surgeon and I have tremendous admiration for her. She has the most difficult job in the world and she treats her patients with the care and respect that they need in the most difficult time in their lives. The foundation trained me and I became a breast health educator. I conducted my first presentation to a health class in a local high school. I also had a table at a high school health fair. I haven’t done a lot of public speaking but I think I really made an impact on these kids. I told them a little about my experience as a breast cancer patient and I shared (especially to the guys) that my Dad had breast cancer. Dad was diagnosed purely by chance. He was a hairy-chested guy and had a stress test. He was mad at the technician because he had shaved his chest and when Dad was in the shower the next day washing off the sticky stuff from the leads he felt a pimple. He blamed the pimple on the tech saying that he had cut him with the razor. Needless to say, Dad went to a dermatologist when this pimple didn’t go away with Neosporin. The dermo did a clinical exam and immediately sent him to a breast surgeon. Yep, my 60+-year-old father needed a mastectomyAn operation removing all or part of the breast. and chemo and radiation. So, to my male followers and friends please look at and examine yourself. You have breasts too!