MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU Medicine is going wild for pink with a variety of activities and events planned throughout October to raise breast cancer awareness.
The Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, the Betty Puskar Breast Care Center, Bonnie’s Bus, the WVU School of Nursing, and the Monongalia County Health Department will team up to provide educational and lifesaving services to the community at the WVU Medicine Expo starting at 8 a.m. on Friday (Oct. 2) at the Morgantown Mall. Free clinical breast exams and mammograms will be offered at the Bonnie’s Bus exhibit from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. No appointment is necessary. A physician will be present to write orders for mammograms.
Additionally, a patchwork quilt from the “Warriors in Pink” campaign, launched by the region’s Ford dealers, will be presented to the Cancer Center during the Expo.
During halftime of the WVU Women’s Soccer game against Texas Christian University on Friday (Oct. 2) at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, the team will present a check from its annual fundraiser for the Betty Puskar Breast Care Center to the Center’s Medical Director Ginger Layne, M.D. Team members will be dressed in pink, and fans are encouraged to wear pink. Tickets will be $1 at the gate. The game starts at 7 p.m.
Breast cancer will be one of several topics discussed on WVU Medicine’s Doctors on Call show on Oct. 8. Hannah Hazard, M.D., and Cristiane Ueno, M.D., from the Cancer Center’s Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program will be interviewed on the show.
The WVU Football team is also joining WVU Medicine to raise breast cancer awareness. During homecoming weekend, the Mountaineers will take on Oklahoma State in the “Pink Game” on Oct. 10.
WVU football players, decked out in pink accessories, and thousands of Mountaineer fans will pay tribute to breast cancer survivors and the healthcare providers who care for them. Breast cancer survivors who’ve been courageously battling the disease from one to 30 years will join members of WVU Medicine’s multidisciplinary team on the field for special recognition.
Dr. Hazard and WVU Football Coach Dana Holgorsen teamed up to record a breast cancer awareness public service announcement, which will be played at the game. Fans will have an opportunity to text financial support for breast cancer research at the Cancer Center.
On Oct. 18, WVU Medicine and the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center will host a dinner for breast cancer survivors at Lakeview Golf Resort and Spa in Morgantown. At this event, cancer survivors share their personal cancer journeys with fellow survivors and visit with cancer specialists in a nonclinical setting.
WVU Medicine’s plastic and reconstructive surgeons are teaming up with local restaurants in Dine Out for Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Day on Oct. 21 to help raise awareness of breast reconstruction options available to women following breast cancer surgery.
Local restaurants participating in BRA Day will donate a percentage of their total receipts to help create a fund at the Cancer Center for patient education and assistance for uninsured and underinsured West Virginia women seeking breast reconstruction. Eighty percent of the proceeds will stay in the fund, and 20 percent will be donated directly to The Plastic Surgery Foundation’s Breast Reconstruction Awareness Fund.
The Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center is a sponsor of the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on Oct. 24 at Hazel Ruby McQuain Park. The walk begins at 10 a.m.
Bonnie’s Bus will visit communities throughout West Virginia in October. Visits are scheduled for Clendenin on Oct. 13; Ravenswood on Oct. 14 and 15; Clarksburg on Oct. 20; Salem on Oct. 21; Parsons on Oct. 22 and 23; Charleston on Oct. 28 and 29; and Beckley on Oct. 30.
For more information on the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, visit www.wvucancer.org.