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When breast cancer was diagnosed at Tina Camp more than eight years ago, she called the alarm clock a "rude awakening."
"Breast cancer is always something you hear about, but it does not affect you until it is," she said. "It's something that can affect all women, which is why everyone should have a mammogram."
The camp diagnosis not only affected him, he touched his friends and family, many of whom were encouraged to get tested. Breast cancer is diagnosed every year in about eight women, which can have a considerable effect on the initial patient.
"This really inspired my friends and those around me to be proactive," said Camp, 54, from the Township of Maurice River, while she was joining hundreds of other people as part of the the Breast Cancer Campaign "run by the American Cancer Society in Ocean City. "If what you're going through can change or help others, you'll feel like you're not doing it alone."
After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among New Jersey women and the second leading cause of death, according to the state's Department of Health.
Experts are discovering about 7,350 breast cancer cases each year in New Jersey, state officials said, which is why health experts are encouraging education and awareness of the disease. The importance of preventive screenings.
"We want to get rid of all the excuses people have for not getting tested," said Dr. Peggy Avagliano, head of imaging for women at Atlantic Medical Imaging. "If you do not have insurance, it's not an excuse. We will perform free mammograms for 40 years and over. We know that early detection saves lives.
And every month of October, breast cancer awareness month and her birthday, Camp simply asks her friends and family to have a mammogram.
Although more and more women are diagnosed with cancer, more are also surviving. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 72% of people with stage 3 breast cancer reach their five-year survival threshold.
Rates are even higher for the early stages of cancer and improve in the late stages of cancer as research on targeted therapy continues.
Avagliano said knowing the signs and symptoms, as well as regular screening, could give patients a way to diagnose. Better research has enabled medical staff to find new and improved methods of diagnosing and treating patients.
Screening providers can now perform 3D mammograms, which have been shown to be effective in detecting more cases of breast cancer, Avagliano said. A biopsy, which was once a surgical appointment in an operating room of a hospital, can now be quickly discontinued on an outpatient basis with minimal invasiveness.
The identified tumor markers can also help doctors adapt a more specific treatment to cancer, instead of taking a more general approach, she said.
Debbie DeRosa, 51, of Hammonton, was shocked to learn that her breast cancer had been diagnosed more than four years ago, but it was comforting to be assisted by a survivor like Rhonda Glenn. .
"She's my angel," said DeRosa about Glenn. "You have to meet so many doctors for so many things, and she was there to help me get through this, because really the unknown is the scariest thing. And my daughter was there for me too. I wish they had an earlier screening for young people. "
Roberta "Gene" Doughty, 58, of Queens, New York, tries to go to the event every year to go to Ocean City as a survivor. Like many others, breast cancer was an illness she knew, but she had not known until her diagnosis four years ago.
After battling cancer and observing what she experienced, she said that other family members and friends were more aware that anyone could get breast cancer.
"There were some who did not understand the importance of this (projections)," said Doughty, "but you have to do it because there are still thousands of women dying each year. I am grateful to have received more. "
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