The Cayman Islands Cancer Society (CICS) held its first Annual Sister Islands “Stride Against Cancer” event on Saturday, 1 April, and around sixty people showed up for the bright and early start at the Brac Reef Beach Resort.

Registration was just $10, with proceeds going to the Women Helping Women Memorial Fund which has been created by the Society to purchase and donate a digital mammography unit to the Health Services Authority at the Cayman Islands Hospital.

This will be a much more efficient method of screening for breast cancer than the unit currently in use, and the Society is working very hard to purchase this machine, CICS Medical Director Dr Sook Yin explained.

Over the past two or three decades, film-screen mammography has greatly aided the detection of early breast cancers. Annual screening of women aged forty and older has lowered breast cancer deaths by as much as thirty percent.

Having a digital mammography study is exactly like film mammography except for a shorter wait time to know if the images are satisfactory. Unlike film mammography, which requires the technologist to develop films in a darkroom, with digital mammography the technologist will know very quickly whether the images are satisfactory.

Studies have shown that digital mammography is significantly better in screening women under age fifty, women of any age with very dense breasts, and women of any age who are pre- or peri-menopausal.

Commenting on the turnout, CICS Education Officer Christine Sanders said, “I didn’t expect so many people. I’m totally impressed.”

She said that, as well as raising funds for the digital mammography unit, they were also increasing awareness about how life styles relate to chronic diseases. “We’d like to get over here more, perhaps get to the schools and do presentations there,” she said.

The Stride event was non-competitive, and adults and children as young as eight came out to support a worthy cause and add a little healthy exercise to their weekend.

The walk was a looped course, with the option of doing a 10K distance or a shorter 5K distance, starting and ending at the Brac Reef, with the turn-around point by Aunt Sha’s Restaurant. The short course was one lap of the loop, while a few fitter early birds made two laps for the 10K distance.

All registered participants received a special package, including a commemorative t-shirt. Following the Stride events, walkers enjoyed a light breakfast while spot prizes were awarded, and many chose to find out how healthy they actually were with the free health screening available, including body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure.

Cholesterol and glucose screening sponsored by Generali Insurance was also offered. Members of the Lions Club of Tropical Gardens were on hand to distribute vouchers for free mammograms, and the Cancer Society had vouchers for free Pap smears and PSAs.

In addition, as the Cancer Society is focusing awareness on colorectal cancers during the months of March and April, there were free fecal occult blood tests available to screen for this disease. The morning rounded out with the 3rd Annual Sister Islands Cancer Awareness Symposium, held in the Brac Reef Conference Room.

The event was hosted by the Cayman Islands Cancer Society and featured speakers from Faith Hospital as well as from the Cancer Society. Speakers included Dr Srirangan Velusamy, General Surgeon at Faith Hospital, who addressed Prostate Cancer Screening, and his colleague, Gynaecologist Dr Venkamma Bonigi, who spoke on cervical cancer screening.

Dave Bennett, a testicular cancer survivor and Cancer Society volunteer, shared his inspiring story of receiving and surviving a cancer diagnosis, and Christine Sanders, Education Officer of the Society, spoke on breast cancer. (More details in next week’s Bracker).

The weekend was sponsored in part by Baptist Health South Florida, Brac Reef Resort, Le Bleu, Progressive Distributors, Rotary Club of Cayman Brac and Sagicor.