Grammy-award winner and breast cancer survivor Sheryl Crow opened a breast cancer detection facility in Los Angeles at the same cancer center where she received treatment four years ago.
The facility, named the Sheryl Crow Imaging Center, will offer digital screening to aid in diagnosing the most common form of cancer found among U.S. women, according to the American Cancer Society. The singer, now 48, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 after a routine screening mammogram.
The state-of-the-art facility for the detection of breast cancer is the country's first complex dedicated exclusively to the prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Crow battled breast cancer in 2006, and the new project is part of the Pink Lotus Breast Center, which was founded by Dr. Kristi Funk, who performed surgery on the 48-year-old singer following her cancer diagnosis.
"Joining forces with the Pink Lotus Breast Center has provided me with a wonderful platform to create awareness and encourage the millions of American women over 40 to get their annual mammogram," Crow said in a statement issued to the press. "Detecting breast cancer early is a woman's best chance at survival, and digital full-field mammography is the gold standard of early detection."
According to Crow, The Pink Lotus Breast Center is unique in so many ways, but most importantly, it was created as the only fully integrative and comprehensive solution for breast cancer patients available today and was built from the ground up to support a woman’s treatment needs at any level imaginable.
ʺAs I searched for ways to cause awareness and give back, the Pink Lotus Breast Center became the ideal platform to reach out to women across the nation, and the only breast health organization that met the comprehensive levels of care that I believe every woman in America is entitled to receive,ʺ said Crow.
In addition to mammograms, the center offers a comprehensive battery of medical services related to the breast, including clinical breast exams, diagnostic biopsies, genetic testing, surgery, radiation, nutrition and Chinese medicine.
Also, the Pink Lotus Breast Center has a program called Pink Lotus Petals. Pink Lotus Petals, a Los Angeles based non-profit, provides free screening, diagnosis, surgical treatment and post-surgical treatment to women who are medically uninsured and are unable to pay for such care on their own behalf due to financial hardship, socio-economic circumstances and other emergencies.
Breast cancer awareness has resulted in hundreds of millions in donations to charities just in the United States alone. However, these funds have been almost exclusively applied to research for a future cure of the disease while treatment of patients with life-threatening conditions who need immediate treatment today has been largely ignored. Pink Lotus Petals believes that saving women today is just as critical as searching for a future cure. Every woman deserves a right to treatment regardless of socio-economic status and financial condition. Breast cancer affects 1 in every 8 women, yet many of them are uninsured, underprivileged and unable to pay for their own health care.
Sources:
http://www.pinklotusbreastcenter.com/, USA Today, US Magazine