September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness month

As you now know (if you read my previous entries, that is), my sister has thyroid cancer. She is currently in isolation in her home after receiving her RAI (radioactive iodine) pill on this past Wednesday. Please read the press release below and BE AWARE - a quick "neck check" at your next dr. visit wouldn't hurt!

Please continue to pray for my sister, Rebecca, and her family. Thanks!!!

PRESS RELEASE

ThyCa Invites You To Help Raise Awareness for Thyroid Cancer
Awareness Month -
ThyCa Volunteers Urge Everyone To Ask for a Neck Check for Early
Detection

Free Downloadable Tools and Tips Available at www.thyca.org

Thyroid cancer is one of the few cancers that has increased in
incidence over the past several years. It will be diagnosed in a new
record total of 33,550 people in the United States in 2007.

This is one of many reasons why ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’
Association, Inc. sponsors Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month.

September will highlight the year-round activities of ThyCa
volunteers to:

• Increase thyroid cancer education;

• Raise awareness of the importance of early detection, treatment,
and lifelong monitoring; and

• Inform the public about ThyCa’s free information, resources, and
support.

• ThyCa also seeks to raise awareness of the need for more thyroid
cancer research.

ThyCa encourages everyone to ask for a neck check the next time they
visit their doctor. Signs to discuss with the physician include a
lump or fullness in the neck, lymph node swelling, difficulty
breathing or swallowing, or voice changes. A neck check can be done
quickly. Most thyroid cancer is treatable if found early, but some
types are aggressive and difficult to treat.

ThyCa's web site has a section titled Raise Awareness
http://www.thyca.org/awareness.htm
It has a radio public service announcement, plus numerous
downloadable materials. Among these are flyers entitled, “Find It
Early” (http://www.thyca.org/findearly.pdf) and “Know the
Signs” (http://www.thyca.org/knowsigns.pdf), a fact sheet titled
"About Thyroid Cancer” (http://www.thyca.org/AboutThyroidCancer.pdf),
and several additional publications.

Free wallet cards and free awareness brochures featuring actor and
thyroid cancer survivor, Catherine Bell, co-star of the hit TV series
J.A.G., are also available by mail.

ThyCa invites everyone interested to help with thyroid cancer
awareness efforts in their communities. Among the activities and
events during September:

• In Pennsylvania, on Saturday, September 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 4
p.m., the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and ThyCa are
sponsoring the Pittsburgh Thyroid Cancer Seminar, with numerous
physician speakers during the day.

• In Maryland, on Saturday, September 15, from 10:30 a.m. to noon,
Leonard Wartofsky, M.D., thyroid cancer specialist and past president
of the American Thyroid Association and The Endocrine Society, will
speak and answer questions at the monthly meeting of the ThyCa
Washington, DC, Thyroid Cancer Support Group.

• In Indiana, a volunteer is working with her surgeon on an awareness
campaign using the literature and materials from ThyCa.

• In Michigan, a volunteer plans to place an article each week in
September in the weekly employee newsletter at her workplace.

• In New Jersey, a corporate nurse will give a presentation and
distribute thyroid cancer awareness brochures and wallet cards to the
company’s more than 400 employees.

• Local support group meetings will bring thyroid cancer survivors
and caregivers together in person in September, as well as every
month, around the United States and in Costa Rica and Philippines.

• Survivors and caregivers around the world are wearing and giving
awareness wristbands and pins and giving awareness brochures and
flyers to their friends and relatives.

The web site www.thyca.org has more than 600 pages of information
about all types of thyroid cancer, diagnosis, treatment, research,
clinical trials, and questions to ask your doctor. It also has
numerous downloadable publications plus details about local support
groups, e-mail support groups, a calendar of coming events, the Rally
for Research, and the 10th International Thyroid Cancer Survivors’
Conference, to be held this year on October 19-21, 2007, near San
Francisco, California.

For information and free materials about thyroid cancer, ThyCa's free
support services, and the conference, e-mail to thyca@thyca.org, call
toll free 1-877-588-7904, fax to 1-630-604-6078, write to PO Box
1545, New York, NY 10159-1545, or visit www.thyca.org.

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Help spread the word…
- September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month
- San Francisco, California, October 19-21, 2007—The 10th
International Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Conference
- Free year-round support services, awareness materials, and education
- Visit www.thyca.org for details

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