Carson City awakens to breast cancer awareness

Carson City was saturated in pink Tuesday as hundreds of men and women donned T-shirts to show their support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Sponsored by Carson-Tahoe Hospital, Tahoe-Carson Radiology and Great Basin Imaging and the Nevada Appeal, 2,500 T-shirts were handed out in Carson City, Douglas County and Yerington.

"The message is early detection saves lives," said Diane Rush, marketing and public relations coordinator for Carson-Tahoe Hospital. "We are just trying to get people aware -- to know their bodies and to participate in mammograms and self-breast exams."

Proceeds from the T-shirt sales will be donated to the Carson Tahoe Cancer Services.

Sunday, 250 inmates at Northern Nevada Correctional Center will run in their third Race for the Cure to raise money for the Carson Tahoe Hospital Adams House Cancer Resource Center and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Nationally, Race for the Cure started with one event in 1983 and now has 112 races a year with over 1.3 million participants.

The North Nevada Correctional Center is the only men's prison nationwide credited to do this.

Pat McGaffin, a prison case worker and a breast cancer survivor, started the prison version of the event in 2000. In their first two years of sponsored walks, inmates raised $7,500.

This year, Stewart Conservation Camp, Silver Springs Women's Correctional Center, Lovelock Prison and Nevada State Prison will participate each with about 100 inmates participating.

"One thing about cancer is it turned out to be sort of like a gift. I really learned things from it," McGaffin, who's been in remission for five years, said. "It's a matter of giving back."

McGaffin said some inmates walk in celebration of a loved one who survived cancer, others walk in memory of a loved one lost.

"It's become a real community event in the prison between the inmates and staff," she said. "And it's good for the men. They are giving back to the community."

YOU CAN HELP

Send donations to Pat McGaffin at Northern Nevada Correctional Center, P.O. Box 7000, Carson City, NV 89702 or call 887-9325 for more information.

Breast Cancer Facts

-- An estimated 39,600 women will die from breast cancer in 2002.

-- Breast cancer has a five-year survival of over 95 percent when diagnosed early.

-- An estimated 1,500 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 resulting in approximately 400 deaths.

-- More than 75 percent of women with breast cancer have no family history of the disease.

-- Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women ages 40 to 59.

-- The majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no other risk factors besides being female and getting older.