For Sheila Guest, Every Month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
In November 2010, Sheila Guest felt a lump in her breast.
Within months she’d had a mastectomy and was undergoing chemotherapy for stage 2 breast cancer. Her husband shaved her head, and with his help she determinedly fought the disease that claims about 43,000 lives each year in America.
Now cancer-free, Sheila credits the staff and technology at Sunflower Diagnostic Center for keeping her healthy.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Thanks to the North Sunflower Medical Foundation, patients’ have access to a Sunflower Diagnostic Center’s 3D Hologic Mammogram Machine.
“I have so much confidence in the NSMC team. They always have the latest updates and the latest technology,’’ Shelia tells us. “Even a few years ago I was telling my cousin who lives in Missouri that we have first-rate equipment and top experts right here in the middle of the Mississippi Delta.’’
The NSM Foundation paid for the October lease of the mammogram machine, which Sheila calls a life-saver. The money saved on this lease provides educational material to supply to women about the signs of breast cancer.
“If that machine had been developed before I was diagnosed, they would have caught my cancer during my routine mammogram a year earlier, instead of me finding the lump myself. You can see everything on those things. There is no doubt this machine will save lives,’’ she says.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
NSM Foundation is not only the way that Sunflower Diagnostic Center has funds to offer services to the community, the Breast and Cervical Cancer program (BCCP) provides women that are uninsured, and medically underserved free mammograms and pap smears.
At North Sunflower Medical Center this month you will see employees wearing pink on Fridays to raise awareness of breast cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control, breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the U.S. (skin cancer ranks first). The CDC also reports that Black women die from breast cancer at a higher rate than White women.
Each year in the United States, about 255,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women and about 2,300 in men.
This month Sunflower Diagnostic Center is raffling off a Susan G. Komen bike in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. Sunflower Med Spa clients can also enter to win.
Sunflower Diagnostic Center
Sheila, a retired teacher who mentored many children in her 32 years in the classroom, has her calendar marked each year for a mammogram at Sunflower Diagnostic Center.
“They have wonderful diagnostic technicians. They are very thorough and friendly and nice. They make you feel at home,’’ she says.
The Sunflower Diagnostic Center offers Mammograms, Sonograms, Ultrasound, Bone Density and yearly gynecological screenings.
Sunflower Diagnostic Center accepts Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, and private pay. The center also participates in the Breast & Cervical Cancer Program (BCCP), and patients may qualify for free treatment through that.
Sheila underwent three months of chemotherapy and was losing clumps of hair when she asked her husband to shave her head. “He was sweet. He didn’t really know how to do it. We could have been on America’s Funniest Home Videos,’’ she jokes. Even today, and her husband work out regularly at the NSMC gym as she continues her healthy lifestyle. Back to her diagnosis, she
Now Sheila offers advice to friends and community members facing cancer. She encourages all women to look into their mammogram options, especially if they have a history of breast cancer in their family or if they are over age 40.
She says people can feel confident in the care they will receive in Ruleville.
“I feel so secure and at peace,’’ she says.
For more information, contact the Sunflower Diagnostic Center at 662-756-2100 and for a full list of services, visit www.northsunflower.com.