THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604210080
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Almost a year ago, Susan Schofner discovered a lump in her breast.
A biopsy proved the mass malignant, so the 39-year-old California Jazzercise instructor underwent a lumpectomy, or partial breast removal. She's just completed her third round of chemotherapy and is about to begin radiation treatment, but the ordeal doesn't show in her face - and you sure can't hear it in her voice.
``I can go on! I will go on! I am not alone!'' Schofner told 620 fitness buffs Friday afternoon.
Then she kicked up her heels and swung her torso on stage, leading a fund-raiser workout at Virginia Beach's Pavilion Convention Center. Proceeds brought to $35,000 the amount Virginia Jazzercisers have amassed so far this year to help fight breast cancer.
The money will go to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, a Texas-based nonprofit group started 24 years ago by the sister of a breast cancer victim. Nationwide, it is the largest contributor to breast cancer research.
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, who herself underwent surgery for breast cancer just two weeks ago, was to have addressed the crowd but had to cancel at the last minute. She had tired from a visit to her oncologist and attendance at several other functions in her capacity as mayor earlier Friday, said Councilman Robert Dean, who was there in her stead.
Oberndorf has received praise for going public with her diagnosis, thereby encouraging women to take the steps that can lead to early detection of breast cancer.
The Virginia chapter of Jazzercise - an international group with nearly 455,000 students and teachers in this country - researched organizations battling breast cancer and chose as beneficiary of its efforts The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The Komen foundation was launched with just a few hundred dollars and a shoe box full of names by Nancy Brinker, whose sister, Susan Komen, died of breast cancer at age 36 leaving a husband and two young children.
Brinker made a deathbed promise to her sister to devote the rest of her life to trying to eradicate the cancer that strikes more than 184,000 American women each year.
Since its inception, the foundation has raised more than $39 million and awarded more than 200 major research and project grants.
Only two years after Brinker started the foundation in her sister's memory, she, too, fell victim to breast cancer. But she survived, in large part because of the knowledge she'd gained through her sister's experience.
Brinker's malignancy was detected early, and she sought out the most advanced treatment available at the time.
``We picked Komen because of its low overhead, because it has the highest return to pure research'' and is the only private foundation that dedicates money solely to breast cancer research and prevention, said James W. Jones, Chesapeake attorney and Jazzercise instructor.
John Brown of Virginia Beach was ready to dance and sway to jazzy tunes Friday. His wife had a breast removed and is now receiving chemotherapy.
``Everyone says, `it doesn't affect me,' but that's why I'm here,'' said Brown, who lost an aunt to the disease.
Early detection is the first line of defense against breast cancer. The Komen Foundation recommends monthly breast self-examinations from the age of 20 and regular breast exams by a health professional and screening mammograms once each year or two beginning at age 40. Yearly screening mammograms are advised for those age 50 and older. Mortality from breast cancer would be cut by nearly one-third if every woman in need of a mammogram had one, according to the foundation.
``The vast majority (of breast cancer patients) survive,'' said Debbie Tunnell of the Komen Foundation. The fear of finding that they have breast cancer deters many women from getting mammograms, which can detect a cancerous lesion while small and before it has spread elsewhere in the body. ILLUSTRATION: FOR INFO
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has a toll-free help
line: 1-800-I'M AWARE.
Contributions may be sent to the foundation at 5005 LBJ Freeway,
Suite 370, Dallas, Texas 75244.
KEYWORDS: BREAT CANCER by CNB