Community mobilizes in fight against breast cancer

Published: Thursday, October 29, 1998

Thursday, October 29, 1998

AWARENESS: Early detection advocated at fund-raising events

By Teresa Jun

Daily Bruin Contributor

This year, breast cancer claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 women and men, more than enough people to fill the Edison International Field of Anaheim to stadium capacity.

Meanwhile, an unsuspecting woman is newly diagnosed with breast cancer every 11 minutes.

Waging war against these odds, local clinics, community organizations and even celebrities have banded together this past month to fight the No. 2 cause of cancer deaths among American women.

In promotion of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Iris Cantor UCLA Women's Health Education and Resource Center participated in half a dozen women's health fairs throughout Southern California. It also provided professional speakers and informational booths.

In addition, visitors to the Iris Cantor Center received pink ribbons, breast self-examination instructions and reminder stickers all month long.

"All the women visitors in October were given (these things), regardless of what information they were looking for when they came in," said Cindy Moskovic, director of the Iris Cantor Center. This center deals with all women's health issues, including menopause, osteoporosis and breast cancer.

Celebrities also led the fight against breast cancer this month by walking to raise money for breast cancer research.

Expedition Inspiration's third-annual Take-A-Hike for Breast Cancer Research, which was held on Oct. 17 at Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica mountains, had 1,000 people in attendance. Celebrities like Cindy Crawford, Téa Leoni, KABC radio personality Stephanie Miller, and Leslie Anne Down, Shawn Batten and Priscilla Garrita, of "Sunset Beach" fame all joined in the activities.

Many of these stars not only participated in the event, but actually led hikes throughout the day.

Cindy Crawford, whose grandmother died from breast cancer, was the event's honorary chair and gave the welcome speech.

"There was great spirit at the event very warm, very genuine," said Libby Hubner, spokeswoman for Take-A-Hike.

"There was no rush for the celebrities. Everybody was there in the right spirit," she added, noting that men, children, couples and senior citizens all showed up to raise funds in honor of loved ones who were fighting breast cancer, including themselves.

Overall, the event raised $92,000, a third of which will go to the Revlon-UCLA Breast Center

The American Cancer Society has also made strides in raising breast cancer awareness by publishing a free directory of facilities offering free or low-cost mammograms and Pap smear tests to the public during the months of October and November.

Within the last month, over 6,500 women have called to receive their free directory, said Charles Green of the American Cancer Society.

With all the extra effort to promote breast cancer awareness this month, Dr. Helena Chang, director of the Revlon-UCLA Breast Center, said it has really paid off.

While the clinic is usually crowded year-round with women seeking mammograms, this month has been extraordinarily busy, she said.

"We opened more clinics and stayed open extra hours to meet the demand," she added.

By increasing awareness among women and health-care providers, Chang hopes to better cure patients with breast cancer.

"We need to cure and the secret for that cure is early detection," she said.

Though certain high-risk factors like family history of breast cancer, late menopause, excessive weight gain after menopause and not having children may create a higher risk of developing breast cancer, 80 percent of women who are afflicted by cancer show no high-risk factors.

Chang recommends that women give themselves monthly breast exams starting at age 20 to make early detection possible.

With early detection of breast abnormalities and lumps, higher survival rates and increased treatment options are possible.

"This month has really promoted a lot of awareness," Chang said, pleased with the high number of women who came in for mammograms this month.

"Hopefully it will last throughout the year and into their remaining lives."

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(From left) Rande Gerber, Cindy Crawford, Brenda Himelfard and Stephanie Miller attend the Expedition Inspiration Take-a-Hike for Breast Cancer Research to raise money for UCLA's breast cancer center.

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