Page 178 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2018

THEFINALSAY BILLY
GUICE
Guice Offshore, LLC
photo courtesy of Billy Guice
Along with the arrival of autumn weather in South Mississippi, October is also noteworthy as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This month is especially significant for me as my wife, Patti, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2017 and because of this, I am a 2018 Mississippi Gulf Coast Ambassador for Real Men Wear Pink (RMWP).
In the U.S., breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women (after skin cancer). This year over 266,000 women will be newly diagnosed and over 40,000 are expected to die from the disease. Shockingly, one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
Real Men volunteer to increase awareness and raise money in support of the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) mission to eradicate breast cancer. Ambassadors pledge to individually raise at least $2,500, wear something pink every day in October and participate in events such as the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on October 20 at the Biloxi Town Green. RMWP ambassadors (including Michael Sunderman, publisher of South Mississippi Living) have all been affected in some way by breast cancer and have a desire to help others better cope with the disease.
Increasing awareness is critically important. Early
detection measures such as mammograms improve the odds of identifying cancer before symptoms arise. Patti’s mammogram prompted her doctor to perform the biopsy that revealed her cancer. Her results motivated several of her friends to schedule their own mammograms, some for the first time.
The need to raise money also cannot be overstated — it
is how the battle will be won. In 2017 there were 159 grants totaling more than $59 million applied to breast cancer research. Funding is also needed to communicate information
and to offer vital services to patients and families. It is this function that I personally find most compelling, but the one that is often overlooked.
Fighting breast cancer can be overwhelming. There
is an enormous amount of information to absorb, life changing decisions to be made quickly, a seemingly endless schedule of medical appointments, surgeries and/or treatments, and an agonizingly slow and painful recovery. Fortunately for Patti, she could lean on a loving network of family and friends, good insurance and access to quality medical care. All these benefits contributed to a positive attitude, which is so critical to a healthy outcome.
During her experience, we regularly talked about the many women that faced these daunting challenges with minimal support, often alone. Thankfully, we learned that ACS offers programs to soften the burden, such as free rides to treatment (Road to Recovery); free nights
of lodging (Hope Lodge Communities); and a variety of counseling and personal support services (Look Good Feel Better, Reach to Recovery and Patient Navigators to name a few). These programs are invaluable to many cancer patients...but they must be continuously funded.
There is a good chance you will know a Real Man wearing pink this October. If you are able, please consider donating to his RMWP campaign and the fight against breast cancer. We can all be ambassadors.
178 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • October 2018 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net