For Immediate Release                                                                        
February 2005

For Further Information                                                                                   

203-857-7304

Be A Real Sweetie This Valentine’s Day

Hey, guys.  Looking for the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day?

The Breast Cancer Survival Center, which offers post-treatment education and support for breast cancer survivors and their families, has a suggestion.

Forget the candy and the flowers.  Be a real sweetie this Valentine’s Day and give the love of your life the gift of life:  take her on a mammogram date.

Did you know that a recent medical study found that many women diagnosed with advanced or metastatic, breast cancer, had not undergone a routine mammogram within the prior one-to-three years?   

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that, “As many as 92 percent of late-stage breast cancer cases in the United States could be diagnosed and treated earlier, when there is greater likelihood of effective treatment, if the healthcare system focused on recruiting women who have not been recently screened, and if early detection techniques could be improved to more accurately detect cancer.”

Unfortunately, many women over the age of 40 do not have regular mammograms.  They’re concerned about the discomfort of the test itself, or, foolishly, are afraid of what they might find out.

But it’s not what you know that should be feared—it’s what you don’t know.

So make that appointment for a special date, and take your sweetie out to a lavish lunch afterwards!  Make sure she’ll be around to celebrate Valentine’s Day with you again next year.

The Breast Cancer Survival Center is the only direct-service not-for-profit program in the state of Connecticut exclusively dedicated to post-treatment survivors.  It operates under the auspices of Norwalk Community College, where it offers free bi-weekly discussion groups and special speakers at NCC’s Fairfield County Women’s Center, West Campus, Room 113, the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 5 p.m.  The next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, February 8.

For a complete schedule of BCSC services, call us at 203-857-7304, or find us on the web at www.breastcancersurvival.org.