This past Tuesday, Bread for the City had a very successful Breast Cancer Awareness Brunch. With around 30 guests in attendance, it was an opportunity for camaraderie among fellow survivors of and supporters of those who had breast cancer.

It was also a great opportunity to learn. Speakers Cassandra Miller from the GWU Breast Care Center, Toroitich Cherono from the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, and Bread’s own cancer navigator Etta-Cheri Washington, presented on the importance of screening mammograms, early detection, support and navigation through the healing process.

At Bread for the City’s Medical Clinic, biennial screening for mammography is recommended for women over the age of 50, as suggested by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. According to the American Cancer Society, regular screening discovers cancer at an earlier stage where survivability can be between 88-98%. (For more information about this and other guidelines from the USPSTF, please visit this link.)

In the course of the brunch, clients and their family members shared stores of their own fight against cancer. One woman in particular described the importance of her faith in her providers for bringing her through the journey of cancer survival. She emphasized early detection and the need for clients to visit their doctors to be screened and referred for a mammogram. Another client, a survivor of stage IV breast cancer (the most advanced stage of cancer) described how she was very lucky to be alive and grateful for the support she received in her recovery.

Offering a different perspective was a gentleman who had personally seen two close family members – his mother and an aunt – pass away from breast cancer. Having grown up in a time where breast cancer had a grimmer prognosis, he had not been in the presence of survivors. “I wanted to see what a breast cancer survivor looked like,” he said, and expressed happiness at hearing how the outcomes of a breast cancer diagnosis have changed for the better.

It has been a great month of awareness and we would like to extend a very gracious thank you to our donors, volunteers, benefactors and our guests or helping us hold a successful this great brunch event. A special thanks to Whole Foods Market for donating the nutritious food for our clients, Melissa Jones for the delicious frittatas and members of the Sibley Young Women’s Breast Cancer Support Group for donating to the event so we could provide gift baskets to the survivors at the event.

Stay pink — and talk to your doctor!