By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The University of Arizona Cancer Center is hosting a town hall today to increase awareness about breast cancer. According to the Arizona Department of Health, it is the most common type of cancer in the state.
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Ginny Clements was 15 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Seventy years later, she said she still remembers how unfamiliar she was with the disease at the time.
“I didn’t know what breast cancer was and I just felt a little bit of a bump,” Clements said.
Clements said she didn’t think much of the bump at first. In 1956, breast cancer wasn’t widely discussed, and she didn’t tell her mother for several months. Soon after, she had her breast removed.
Clements said she didn’t open up about her experience until she turned 50. Now, she said she wants to be a resource for others facing the same situation.
In 2020, she established the Ginny L. Clements Breast Cancer Research Institute at the University of Arizona Cancer Center.
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She is co-hosting today’s town hall to discuss the future of breast cancer care and life beyond diagnosis. Clements said the event is not tailored only to women.
“I’ve known two men who’ve had breast cancer and I didn’t know at one time, years ago when I first came to town, that men had breast cancer, but they do,” Clements said.
Clements said she also knows people who suspected they had breast cancer, ignored it, and later died from the disease. She said she is pleading with anyone who notices a sign not to wait.
“Just go and have somebody examine you. Don’t fool around with it, please,” Clements said.
Today’s town hall is open to everyone and will be held at the Health Sciences Innovation Building at 4:30 p.m. To register, click here.
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