Friday, July 24, 2009

KSEE24 TV Features Komen Grantee; Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service Center

Stefani Booroojian, KSEE 24 news anchor pioneered the Buddy Check program bringing breast cancer awareness to California's Central Valley. On the 24th. of each month, Stefani reminds women to perform their monthly Breast Self-Exam while encouraging them to remind a buddy to do the same.

Accompanying this Buddy Check tonight, Stefani featured the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service Center, 2009/2010 Komen Central Valley grantee.

taken from KSEE 24:
Breast Cancer Awareness for Fresno's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community
"Breast cancer does not discriminate, and all women are at risk. Fresno's Deal and Hard of Hearing Service Center is spreading breast cancer awareness among its clients. A number of events are planned to share the visual message that every woman counts."


See KSEE 24 feature

Read about KSEE 24's Buddy Check

Visit Komen Central Valley's Grantees

Komen for the Cure Names College Scholarship Recipients


DALLAS – July 21, 2009 – After losing their mothers to breast cancer, Lin Ling, Samantha Muilenburg, Asimina Trigonis and Heather Zurek have been selected to receive college scholarships geared to the children of people who have died of breast cancer, from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists.

The Susan G. Komen College Scholarship Award Program was established to help students who would otherwise find attending college to be a significant financial burden, due to the loss of a parent to breast cancer. It offers undergraduate college scholarships of $10,000 a year for up to four years. Recipients of the Komen College Scholarship Award are selected based on scholastic achievement, community service and participation, financial need and demonstrated leadership potential. Recipients are expected to be ambassadors for Komen for the Cure and the breast cancer movement within their social networks and on their collegiate campus.

View Komen Scholarship Recipients

On a personal note, it was an extreme honor to have served on the Komen Scholarship Selection Committee. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, I was a single mom. My son was a high school senior preparing his own applications for college scholarships. It was my son who stopped his search in order to find information to educate both of us about breast cancer. He found the Komen National website. It was there I learned the ABCs of breast cancer. The result; I was very well prepared to ask the right questions of my breast surgeon, oncologist and radiation oncologist. When reading the applications of these scholars, I was reminded how breast cancer is not just an individual disease, it is a disease that affects the entire family. Early detection of my breast cancer saved my life, but these scholars lost their mothers. Each possessed the academic qualifications, but also shared their personal experience of their mother's battle with breast cancer. They described how they were positively influenced by the courage and strength of their mother's illness. They are incredible Ambassadors and Komen partners in the promise to end breast cancer forever.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Forbes says: Fresno 2nd worst city to recover from recession


Second worst city, 15.5% unemployment

Why is this Race so important? In the State where we can't agree on a budget, all business is affected. Women 40 and over who have lost their jobs, also eventually lose their insurance benefits. Those insurance benefits once provided means to obtaining life-saving breast cancer screening. Women 39 and under who have a high risk for developing breast cancer are not able to resume baseline mammography, or if they find a lump, cannot pay for their own mammograms. Jane Doe asks herself, "Shall I schedule my mammogram, or buy my family groceries?"
WE say, "Why should any woman have to choose?"
Make an impact on the life of your wife, mom, aunt, cousin, sister or girlfriend. Participate in Komen Central Valley Race for the Cure. There's many ways to assist these women; take the 125 challenge and pay for life-saving mammograms OR when registering for Race, ask friends, family or co-workers to make a donation.
For complete details, visit Komen Central Valley's Race page

Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Breast Self Awareness Guidelines


Know your risk
Talk to your family about your family health history
Talk to your doctor about your personal risk of breast cancer

Get screened
Ask your doctor which screening tests are right for you if you are at higher risk
Have a mammogram every year starting at age 40 if you are at average risk
Have a clinical breast exam at least every 3 years starting at 20, and every year starting at 40

Know what is normal for you
Know how your breasts look and feel and report changes to your health care provider right away

Make healthy lifestyle choices that may reduce your risk of breast cancer, such as
Maintain a healthy weight
Add exercise into your routine
Limit alcohol intake

Updating this blog & the wonders of social networking



No excuses-this blog has not been updated for nearly a year as we limited social networking to Myspace, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. I held out on opening a Twitter account as I wasn't convinced that "tweeting" could be of benefit, but I soon discovered its advantages. The delivery of a simple one-liner with a link (even utilizing tinyurl.com) lends quite a bang for the buck. I would love to know who comes up with names like "twitter" and "tweet" as I really can't remember either of these words frequently gracing my vocabulary in the past. I can guarantee that "tweet" never described any action of mine. Spammers still abound on Twitter as you notice a new "follower" appeals to those "come take a look at my naughty pictures". No problem, as blocking is an easy feature.
So why update this blog? To include this link in tweets of course.