SURVIVOR WALL TO HIGHLIGHT AWARENESS OF BREAST CANCER

Breast cancer survivors are being asked to help women learn that the disease doesn't have to be a death sentence.

A Breast Cancer Survivor Wall is being organized and will be displayed at several sites in Southeast Missouri in October as part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Women who have survived breast cancer are being asked to fill out signature cards, which will be displayed on the survivor wall.

The American Cancer Society, St. Francis Medical Center, Southeast Missouri Hospital and mammography centers throughout the region have teamed up to educate women about early detection and treatment of breast cancer.

Elizabeth Wilson of Sikeston and her husband, Troy, have donated the survivor wall in memory of Wilson's mother, Mary Lou Montgomery, who died of breast cancer in 1984.

The wall will be on display after brief ceremonies at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4 at West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau, 2 p.m. Oct. 11 at Factory Outlet Stores in Sikeston, and 8 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Annual Pig Jig in the AAD Grotto Building on Barren Road in Poplar Bluff.

Women can add their names to the survivor wall by contacting the Regional Cancer Center at Southeast Missouri Hospital, 651-5550, or Womancare at St. Francis Medical Center, 339-6209, and requesting a signature card. Those signature cards will be added to the survivor wall.

Wilson said seeing survivors' names so prominently displayed will encourage women to get mammograms and learn about preventing breast cancer.

Mary Lou Montgomery died 10 years after she was originally diagnosed with breast cancer.

"They didn't have what they have today," Wilson said. "They have so many options today and so much better equipment today and so much better treatment. It used to be by the time they found breast cancer, it was too far gone."

But with improved diagnostic equipment and better treatments, "I really see the light at the end of the tunnel," Wilson said.

Wilson, 47, has been active in the American Cancer Society to help raise funds for education and research.

"I have two nieces and I hope one day that I can say to them, I fought this battle so you won't have to get breast cancer," she said.

Barbara Crowell, director of the Womancare program at St. Francis Medical Center, said many women are afraid of getting mammograms because they're afraid they'll find out they have breast cancer.

"We're trying to let people know that if found in the early stages, breast cancer is 97 percent curable," Crowell said. "What we want to do is highlight the fact that there are many, many women in our area who have survived breast cancer and now live normal lives."

Wilson, who has a family history of breast cancer on both sides of her family, understands women's fears about the disease.

"Probably with me, it won't be if I get it, it will just be when," said Wilson, who is 46. Her mother was 64 when she died. "That's why I think it's so important that breast cancer survivors are out in public, telling women about mammograms and how to do monthly checks. It's easy to put those off, and it's easy to suffer the consequences of putting those things off."

The possibility of one day developing breast cancer "is always at the back of my mind," she said. "It's very frightening."

But continued education and research may one day make breast cancer deaths a thing of the past, Wilson said.

"We're seeing more and more women who doing what they need to be doing, and that's the reason we're seeing fewer deaths," she said.