September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
Teal will be the color of the month when the Havertown based Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation will sponsor the first ever “Turn the Towns Teal” to generate awareness about the disease.
The Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit, was established in 2000 together by the sister and nurse of Sandy Rollman who passed away from advanced ovarian cancer at the age of 33.
Awareness is currently the most important factor in the fight against ovarian cancer. Though hardly known, it is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women, affecting 1 out of every 58 women.
Furthermore, the symptoms are difficult to detect and so often go unidentified by both women and their doctors until it is often too late for effective treatment. In fact, of the more than 22,000 Americans who are diagnosed with the disease annually, approximately 16,000 die from it. However, with early detection, the survival rate is 90-95 percent. The Sandy Rollman Cancer Foundation also advocates for early diagnostic testing and more effective treatments, and raises funds to advance research.
In support of the organization’s efforts, volunteers will be tying teal ribbons around trees and poles in almost forty towns across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“We are thrilled that so many of our regional communities recognize the importance of raising public knowledge of ovarian cancer, a disease that all too quietly continues to take the lives of so many women,” says Robin Cohen, co-founder of the Foundation. “It is our hope that through the Turn the Towns Teal Campaign we will spread the word of the symptoms of ovarian cancer and assist patients and doctors in identifying and more importantly treating this disease in a timely manner.”
Early symptoms of Ovarian Cancer:
- Bloating
- Pelvic or abdominal pain
- Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
- Urinary urgency or frequency
For more information, please contact:
Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation
(610) 446-2272
http://www.sandyovarian.org
For more information about Ovarian Cancer, visit the PhillyHealthInfo.org Ovarian Cancer page.