Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - University of Virginia - (Page 4)

BY KAREN DOSS BOWMAN Have you done your monthly breast self-exam lately? ? Hopefully, this woman's story will inspire you not to skip one L ee Mullen was immersed in busy preparations for her oldest daughter's wedding in October 2011. Even so, she remembered to do her monthly breast self-exam. It may have saved her life. Mullen found a lump in her right breast. She turned to UVA Breast Care Center for help, and just 10 days before the wedding, Mullen was diagnosed with breast cancer. "It was surreal," says Mullen, a Charlottesville native and local business owner. "It was already a chaotic time, and this added to everyone's stress." Mullen kept up with her regular mammograms and had one a couple of months before she detected a lump. The mammogram likely missed the cancer because of her dense breast tissue. That's why it is important for annual mammograms to be combined with monthly breast self-exams. Since having two surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, Mullen is now cancer-free. She was grateful that UVA doctors empowered her to make informed decisions about her care. "Every option was mine to examine and discuss," Mullen says. A longtime supporter of UVA, Mullen has been a member of the UVA Children's Hospital Committee for 15 years and recently ﬁnished a six-year 4 WINTE R 2 013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - University of Virginia

Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - University of Virginia
Contents
Life in Balance
Is a Low-Salt Diet Good for Everyone?
Have You Done Your Monthly Breast Self-Exam Lately?
Waiting for a Heart
Got Excuses?
Managing Your Health with a DIY Tool Kit
Is It the Stress Talking?
The Wonderful World of Greens
Knee-to-Know Basics
On the Cover
Run for Your Life
14 Good-for-You Gifts
Special Delivery
Virtual Health
A Childhood Interrupted by Cancer
Cupcake Wars

Vim & Vigor - Winter 2013 - University of Virginia