hea th BREAST CANCER AWARENESS START FINISH REG PARKING LOTS PORT-A-POTIES Walk to talk about breast cancer BY ASHA MAHADEVAN [email protected] October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the American Cancer Society is organizing its Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks. The walks will take place in each of the fi ve boroughs on Sunday, Oct. 19. Several Queens-based organizations and residents will be donning pink T-shirts and caps that day at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows to participate in the 3-mile walk. Online registrations are open; on-the-spot registration begins at 8 a.m. and the walk will start at 10 a.m. Arlene DeSena from Maspeth will volunteer at the event for the fourth time in a row. DeSena was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She went into remission in late 2008 and, since then, has volunteered at various cancer-related activities. “I want to give back to the community,” she said, because it “gives me purpose.” As a volunteer, she has met patients, survivors, and families who have lost loved ones to breast cancer. “You have to be supportive,” she said. The nurses at the Queens Hospital Center know how to do that. For the 12th year in a row, they will be walking at Making Strides and raising funds for the cancer society. Two teams from the hospital have together raised $3,000 with two weeks still to go. New York Hospital Queens is also working toward spreading awareness about breast cancer. It has three teams participating in the walk, and those teams have raised more than $7,000 combined. The hospital also found that approximately 40 percent of the women who are treated for breast cancer are Chinese. In order to increase awareness among this community, the hospital is starting a Chinese-language breast cancer support group called Pink Ribbon Club that will meet on the third Friday of every month in Flushing. Beth Siegel, the director of the Breast Center at NYHQ, said that a support group is good for breast cancer patients and survivors, as “it can be very helpful to see other women in their community doing well after breast cancer treatment.” Having a month dedicated to spreading awareness about breast cancer is very important and helpful to the cause, said Linda Bulone, research nurse manager at the Cancer Care Center of Queens Hospital Center. Breast cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in women, and yet a lot of people have a false idea that they don’t need to get regular mammograms to screen them for the disease, instead relying on a self-examination, feeling for lumps. “By the time you feel the lump, the cancer is at a later stage,” said Bulone. “That puts women at risk for a more invasive treatment and increases their chances of undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. Regular mammograms increase the chances of fi nding breast cancer in its early stages, and the patient can be treated with surgery alone.” Bulone said that it is recommended that women above the age of 40 get mammograms once a year. “We women take care of everybody else but forget about taking care of ourselves. The awareness month reminds women about their breast health. Breast cancer is a very treatable disease.” PORT-A-POTIES PORT-A-POTIES SHORTER ROUTE ROUTE Reflection Row KEY Registration Port-a-Poties Water Entertainment Photo Location #QueensStridesWalk Reflection Row Shorter Route Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Queens Flushing Meadows Corona Park Sunday, October 19, 2014
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