In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, Murray Calloway County Hospital's "Because She Matters" campaign is raising funds for new, potentially life-saving 3-D mammography technology. VP of development at MCCH, Keith Travis, visits Sounds Good to discuss the importance of raising awareness and to provide more details about the fundraiser.
This year, an estimated 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. (not including 63,410 new cases of non-invasive cancer). Although death rates for this disease have been decreasing since 1989, it is still one of the deadliest forms of cancer for women in the U.S. besides lung cancer. Breast cancer affects both men and women, and a man's lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000. Early diagnosis is crucial to a high survival rate regardless of gender, and Murray Calloway County Hospital is planning to increase their chances of detection by introducing state of the art 3-D mammography technology.
The Murray Calloway Endowment for Health Care launched the "Because She Matters" campaign to raise funds for the new equipment, which costs upwards of $850,000 to install and operate. 3-D Mammography would increase detection rates from their current 1.2%, meaning 7 to 8 more women will be diagnosed earlier and have a better chance of beating the disease. MCCH performs over 7,000 mammograms a year, so integrating the most developed and successful technology is a huge priority.
VP of Development, Keith Travis, provides details for the fundraising events held by the campaign, including a golf classic (Fri., Oct. 13th), a Trap, Skeet, Turkey, and 5-Stand Sporting Clay Shoot (Sat., Oct. 14th), and a capstone luncheon on Wednesday, October 18th. The luncheon will feature guest speaker Kentucky Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton. All donations and other money raised over the course of these events goes towards 3-D mammography equipment. For more information, visit the MCC Hospital website or call 762-1908 or 762-1800.