Wanda Anderson has been walking in the Race For The Cure for years. But last year, she started walking, not for others, but for herself. Wanda has breast cancer.
Wanda Anderson says, “I had breast cancer . . . a hard pill to swallow.” As hard as it was being told she had cancer, Wanda says, it was just as hard to even get the tests she needed to diagnose her breast cancer. After working for 20 years, she was laid off from her job, lost her health insurance and then found a lump during one of her routine breast self-exams. Wanda Anderson says, “I knew that I needed to get some help I didn’t know how I was going to receive the help, since I had no insurance and you can’t just go and say I need a mammogram without having some type of insurance.” She turned to Norton Hospital’s Mobile Mammography unit. An RV that travels across the area, giving women free mammograms. Dana Harris, Nurse Practitioner, says, “Most of our patients who we have diagnosed have been women who have been between 40 and 50 who are minorities and have no insurance, nowhere to turn and so we’re the answer.” And have been the answer for countless women who have come to this unit over the years. Dana Harris says, “We find about one cancer per month, so that’s one more life saved with earlier diagnosis.” Wanda says she is just one example. Wanda Anderson says, “I probably wouldn’t be here. I probably would not be here. I probably would be gone. My cancer had spread, the stage was a high stage.” But her breast cancer was caught by X-ray technician, Paula Dodd, in this mammography unit a year and half ago. Dana Harris says, “Early detection and prevention is key. It saves lives.” Wanda is still fighting breast cancer today, but thanks to the mobile mammography unit, she will live to walk in at least one more race, hoping to find her cure.
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