Women's Cancers Video

Air date: May 1, 2011
For more information: Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center

Transcript

Courtney Dwyer, San Diego 6 Anchor: About one in six women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. In 2010, an estimated 207,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women here in the U.S. Next weekend, there is a special event taking place to educate San Diego women about cancer. Dr. Johnson and cancer survivor Julia Castaneda are here with us this morning with more information about next weekend’s event. Thank you so much for being here. It’s such an important topic and obviously we have the three-day event, we have so much awareness here in San Diego, but to get that one-on-one attention, that’s really, really important when it comes to cancer. That’s what they’re going to receive next weekend. Right, doctor?

Dr. Kenneth Johnson, Sharp Chula Vista-affiliated Hematologist/Oncologist: Correct, yes.

Courtney: Tell us a little bit about the process of what they’re going to be offered next weekend.

Dr. Johnson: They’ll have education services explaining women’s cancer issues — from breast cancer to cervical cancer to ovarian cancer, the whole gamut.

Courtney: Julia, I want to talk to you because you are a breast cancer survivor. I’m so happy to have you here this morning. I want to bring our viewers up to speed on your story. You were diagnosed just last year, in the beginning of 2010. Tell us how you’re feeling and what your status is now.

Julia Castaneda, Patient: After I was diagnosed, I had surgery and chemo and I had radiation also. Now I’m in recovery.

Dr. Johnson: Remission, yes.

Courtney: Good for you. Congratulations.

Julia: And I feel OK. I feel OK, yeah. I’m doing better and better every day.

Courtney: I was talking to you during the commercial break. We were talking about the day you were diagnosed and you told me that the best thing for you to get through it was your support group. Is that right?

Julia: Family, friends and of course, the support group we have at Sharp Chula Vista. In this group, we are all women going through the same things and we can speak the same way. It really helps because we can understand a little bit more and we know that we are not alone.

Courtney: Exactly, and that’s always a huge thing when it comes to dealing with something like this. Doctor, I want to talk to you. You’ve been at Sharp for about seven years you said. What’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed, not just with breast cancer, but with cancer in general in women in San Diego? With your patients, are there any alarming trends that you’re noticing now?

Dr. Johnson: Nothing necessarily alarming, but it’s always concerning when you see young women like Julia diagnosed with breast cancer.

Courtney: How old were you when you were diagnosed?

Julia: I was 39.

Courtney: 39, OK. That’s before 40, when you’re supposed to get your mammogram.

Dr. Johnson: It’s always concerning when you see a young person develop breast cancer and it makes you wonder if there’s any genetic predisposition, which is being investigated. But in general, there are lots of new treatments out there for breast cancer, like targeted therapy, which is a little different than conventional chemotherapy.

Courtney: I want to bring up some information about next weekend. Here you go: Saturday, May 7, from 10 to 2 at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center. You guys will be having mammograms offered, but you have to have an appointment, correct? And you have to be 40 or older?

Dr. Johnson: 40 or older and haven’t had your yearly mammogram yet. Also, we’ll have free clinical breast exams for anyone who wants to have one.

Courtney: Great. Showing you how to do the clinical exams, I know that’s kind of hard. I know that early detection is huge with breast cancer but teaching women how to do a self exam at home is really key, right?

Dr. Johnson: Yes, absolutely, keeping aware of any changes in your breasts is very important.

Courtney: All right, well, thank you to the both of you for coming in.

Dr. Johnson: Our pleasure.

Courtney: Julia, I’m so excited to see how you’re doing. You look great and have a beautiful smile on your face on your face today.

Julia: Thank you.

Courtney: And doctor, thank you so much for coming in.

Dr. Johnson: My pleasure. Thanks for having us.

Courtney: Obviously a great event next weekend. If you’d like more information, maybe come down and see the doctor and get a mammogram, go to our website right now, sandiego6.com, and click on hot topics. We have the information listed there.