Pocono News Section

Central Pennsylvania Mammathon a Success

Central Pennsylvania Mammathon a Success - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 5:22PM EST

Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 @ 05:22pm EST
Selinsgrove, Snyder County-

Over 60 volunteers converged on the Susquehanna Valley Mall near Selinsgrove to express the importance of breast health for all women, especially those over age 40. The annual Mammathon event started here four years ago with just a handful of helpers calling women throughout Snyder, Northumberland, and Union County, urging women to schedule mammograms and make good health a priority.

Lewisburg Mayor Judy Wagner is just one of many helping to make a difference this year. "If we can call attention to this really important health issue, and one or two or however many women step forward, who wouldn't have without this effort, the whole thing has been worth it," Wagner explained.

Dona Reynolds just moved here from California. She was the first woman to sign up for a mammogram, and convinced her 86-year-old mother to do the same. She thinks the Mammathon is a fantastic idea. Reynolds said, "It offers you many opportunities. They have low cost for people without insurance or low income people, and I just think it's an exceptional program and event."

The volunteers here at Mammathon are spreading a message of hope, that through early detection and better treatments, more women than ever are beating breast cancer.

Mel Purdy is a co-chair of this year's Mammathon. She is a five-year breast cancer survivor who says the disease is no longer a death sentence, and doesn't have to be anything more than a bump in the road. "We've got to reach more and more women to tell them how important it is to do monthly self breast exams, to have mammograms, to get clinical screenings, to do all those things that are necessary, because we know that early detection saves lives," Purdy added.

Mammathon volunteers exceeded their goal by convincing over 100 women to sign up for mammograms at the event, but they say their work is still not finished. Mayor Wagner said, "I would like to ask all women to pick the phone up and make that appointment.”