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Breast Health Awareness Month is here in October and with that a reminder from the girls at Azle,Texas-based Eagle Mountain Realty to have a mammogram performed every year.
Gwen Gibbons and Debra Jenkins, co-owners of Eagle Mountain Realty, have played an important role in the promotion of breast health awareness in the Azle/Eagle Mountain Lake area. As past chairs of the Texas Health Azle Levis and Lace Galas, they have been instrumental in raising money for a Digital Breast Tomosynthesis machine that was installed in April at the Azle hospital.
Gibbons, also an Eagle Mountain Realty Broker, stated, “The 3D mammography equipment allows doctors to find cancerous lesions in an earlier stage, because the images are easier to read.”
This new technology for screening and diagnostic mammography helps identify abnormalities easier in dense breast tissue than with 2D mammography. The equipment takes multiple high resolution images in an arc while the breast is held in compression and allows the radiologist to “see inside the breast” in layers. This advanced technology improves the capacity to detect nodules that might otherwise go undetected.
The machine came with a price tag of almost $300,000, $90,000 of which was raised at the 2015 Levis and Lace Gala, in addition to support from the Lockheed Martin AERO Club.
Jenkins shared, “The support of the community was overwhelming. When you give Azle an opportunity to raise money for a good cause; this town will never let you down.”
“The price tag was worth it,” added Gibbons. “Radiologists say it improves breast cancer detection by 27-50% with fewer call backs and unnecessary biopsies.” Doctors and scientists agree that early detection is the key. The American Cancer Society recommends that every woman over 40 be examined for breast cancer once a year.
For those who haven’t scheduled a yearly mammogram, the girls at Eagle Mountain Realty urge women everywhere to make that call.
Release ID: 135240