Breast Cancer

Facing a year of financial trouble that started with a national controversy over dropping monetary support for Planned Parenthood, Komen Maryland told its donors on Friday that the organization is $1 million short of reaching its current fundraising goal. Brittany Fowler, spokeswoman for the Maryland affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, said cancer patients and survivors in the state could lose services, such as prepared meals, breast exams and aqua therapy, if the organization misses its local $3.1 million target by the end of the current fundraising year, which closes March 31, 2013.

It's hardly Times Square, or even Baltimore or Annapolis, for that matter, at least when it comes to the size of the crowds ringing in the new year in those cities, but it has become a tradition nearly as strong for the 500 to 1,000 people (depending on the weather) who turn out for the annual Havre de Grace New Year's Eve Duck Drop. In some ways, the Havre de Grace event has a certain purity that gives it an edge over the more boisterous celebrations. There won't be any champagne toasts, but hot chocolate and cookies will be served.

The Baltimore VA Medical Center said Wednesday it has become the first hospital in Maryland to offer three-dimensional mammograms, a technology it hopes will better detect breast cancer in women. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, 3-D mammograms give a deeper view of breast tissue than traditional two-dimensional tests. The device allows doctors to examine breast tissue in individual layers rather than in one big mass. The 3-D views enable doctors to detect small lumps that may get lost in layers of tissue and thus allow earlier breast cancer detection, said Dr. Rakhi Goel, director of breast imaging at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

I'm sure that Baltimore Ravens fans noticed the pink cleats, gloves, wristbands, sideline caps and other equipment the team sported during October. I want to let the community know that the Ravens were much more than "pretty in pink" during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The National Football League's initiative, "A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives," reminds women ages 40 and older about the importance of annual mammograms. Through this initiative, the NFL provides funding to the American Cancer Society to help uninsured and underserved women access breast cancer screening and detect breast cancer early.

Kathryn Barry Truax, an elementary school teacher recalled for her classroom presence, died of leukemia Dec. 2 at her Ruxton home. She was 30. Born in Baltimore and raised in Ruxton, she was a 2000 graduate of the Bryn Mawr School, where she played basketball and lacrosse. "Her smile greeted everyone, be it a friend or an acquaintance. She always had a kind word, an infectious laugh and a great sense of humor," said Gita Deane, who had taught her and is now on the Goucher College faculty.

Update: The American Chemistry Council disputes the study. Here is a statement: “It is concerning that the authors could be over-interpreting their results and unnecessarily alarm workers. This study included no data showing if there was actual chemical exposure, from what chemicals, at what levels, and over what period of time in any particular workplace. Although this is an important area of research, these findings are inconsistent with other research. This study should not be used to draw any conclusions about the cause of cancer patterns in workers.”  The original blog post is below: Women who worked ten years or more in jobs that exosed them to cancer-causing substances and endocrine chemicals increased their odds of getting breast cancer, a new study has found.

It all started at Night of Champions, when John Cena traded in his green attire for pink, signaling the beginning of an official partnership between WWE and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Until Raw on Monday, pink ribbons were worn by Supersatars, Divas, broadcasters and referees. The entrance ramp, announce table and ring skirts were co-branded. The middle rope was pink. PSAs ran frequently during WWE programming. WWE dove head first into this breast cancer initiative, headlined by all proceeds of John Cena's “Rise Above Cancer” apparel going to fight the cause.

We were pleased to see the list of resources related to breast cancer in a recent edition of The Sun and would like to make your readers aware of another resource available to the community ("Health digest," Oct. 21). Since 1995, Hadassah of Greater Baltimore has offered the Check It Out breast cancer education program to area high schools as well as adult groups. The program brings a breast cancer survivor as well as a health educator to educate groups about the disease and the importance of self-exams, and it seeks to empower women in regard to their health care.

This is for all those people who are seriously ill and thinking they may never do what they love again. I was like that in 2010, recovering from back-to-back breast cancer and heart surgeries and the aftermath. I thought tennis, which is my athletic passion, was probably not going to be part of my future - if there was one. During my illnesses, tennis was a number of things to me: distraction, as my recovery efforts happened to be perfectly timed for watching the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open; incentive, because I couldn't wait to get back onto the court; and dream - would I ever make it back?

The sun had barely risen Sunday morning as Geneva Frazier shimmied in a conga line, her pink feather boa flouncing while "I Will Survive" blared over the loudspeakers at Komen Maryland's Race for the Cure. This is the fourth year her family has run the Hunt Valley race, and it has been two years since her cousin, Patricia Gross, died of breast cancer . "It's hard," Frazier said. "But it's a celebration. Everybody's here for the same reason. " However, the turnout Sunday was not as big as in previous years.