health
link
www.samc.com
4
Take five and learn the signs of stroke
with Saint Agnes – a certified Advanced
Primary Stroke Center.
FALL 2011
6
Scott Bristol is back to his life again,
thanks to therapeutic hypothermia at
Saint Agnes.
On a Mission to Heal Body, Mind and Spirit
Get the facts about mammography on page 5.
Ruth Fritz (center) with (left to right) daughter Kerri Price,
granddaughter Madison Price and daughter Erica Crouch.
“I knew my breast
cancer was being
caught early, and I knew
I was in good hands.”
– Ruth Fritz, cancer survivor
For more than 20 years – just like clockwork – Ruth Fritz had
been getting her annual mammogram. She had a history of
suspicious lumps, but they always proved to be false alarms.
So when a large breast lump surfaced just weeks before her
yearly appointment, Ruth didn’t lose much sleep.
“I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just another one of those cysts,’” she
remembers.
Her radiologist recommended a diagnostic exam, which
she expected. What the exam revealed, however, came as a
complete surprise. Ruth’s lump was, in fact, cancerous.
Statistics show that roughly 1 in 8 women will develop
breast cancer in her lifetime. It’s a disease that affects both
women and, in some instances, men. It does not discriminate
based on age or ethnicity, nor does it affect only those with
a family history of the disease.
The good news is, thanks to early detection – like regu-
lar screenings – and improved treatments, breast cancer
survival rates are growing.
And for Ruth, having a history of annual mammograms
gave her greater peace when her cancer was found.
“If you don’t have a past history of mammograms, you
just don’t know,” Ruth says. “I knew my breast cancer was
being caught early, and I knew I was in good hands.”
In May, Ruth underwent a mastectomy and has had a series
of chemotherapy treatments to eradicate any remnants of
cancer. Nearing the end of her treatment, she is as committed
as ever to continuing her annual mammograms.
But perhaps more important to her is encouraging the
women she loves to do the same. In fact, this Mother’s Day,
more valuable than any gift she could have received, she sim-
ply wanted her daughters to make a commitment to having
annual mammograms.
“Having my yearly exam helped me have greater aware-
ness,” Ruth says. “And I want the same for them too.”
Screening
and healing
for breast cancer