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Celebrity bagging promotes awareness of breast cancer
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Posted on Oct 30 2004
Determined to promote awareness of breast cancer, its effects, and ways of treatment, organizers took their campaign to another level yesterday morning, serving as temporary grocery baggers at Payless Super Market in Chalan Kanoa.
The event, part of recognizing October as Breast Cancer Prevention Awareness Month and Oct. 24-30 as Breast Cancer Prevention Awareness Week, featured Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, Rep. Joe Guerrero, members of the 2004 Liberation Royal Court, as well as staff of the Saipan Mayor’s Office serving as voluntary baggers.
“We are here because we understand that breast cancer is the highest cause of deaths among women on the island of Saipan,” Tudela said. “[And] we are here to do something about it.”
This year’s theme is “No more excuses…Get your mammogram today!”
Tudela and Guerrero were joined by 2004 Miss Liberation Queen Leiana Ogumoro, 2004 Miss Liberation Royal Princess Sweeda Glad, 2004 Miss Liberation Princess Myla Capilitan, 2004 Miss Liberation Princess Sheyvonne Maratita, Mayor staff Regina Torres, Ruth Pangelinan, Tony Benavente, and fellow volunteer Joyce Glad.
While bagging customers’ groceries, the participants also presented pink ribbons and stuffed into the bags educational materials on breast cancer and the importance of having a mammogram—recognized as the most effective method of detecting breast changes that may be cancer long before physical symptoms can be seen or felt.
“We need to spread awareness about this,” Guerrero said. “Its for a good cause.”
Between 1992 to 2001, about 22 women in the Commonwealth have succumbed to breast cancer. Between 1998 and 2002, 37 cancers have been detected while 107 were found to be benign.
Nationwide, over 200,000 new cases of female breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2004 and close to 40,000 will die from the disease. In the Commonwealth, the five-year mean age-specific breast cancer mortality rate is 5.04 per 10,000 women over the age of 40 years in 2001.
The CHC has also conducted a total of 5,736 mammograms between 1998 and 2003, with 857 in 1998, 802 in 1999, 943 in 2000, 965 in 2001, 1,223 in 2002, and 954 in 2003.
