VIDEO: Breast Cancer Survivors Unite

VERNON, Ala.(WCBI)—It’s not October but folks in Lamar County are bringing breast cancer awareness to the forefront.

University of Alabama in Birmingham School of Nursing and the Susan G. Komen foundation of North Central Alabama collaborated to bring the Think Well Program to Lamar county natives.

For many, winning the fight against any type of cancer is the main concern but the question is, what do you experience once you’ve survived.

“You may find you won’t want to take care of yourself but you still want to take care of your family still wanting to be there,”said UAB Research Nurse Jacqueline Vo.

Vo is a Research Nurse at UAB. She says the first after steps are to continue a healthy lifestyle.

“So it’s really important to focus on your excersise focus on your nutrition because taking care of yourself will help you take care of others,”said Vo.

Karen Menese is the Dean for Research at UAB. She hosts Think well events all over Alabama and she says it wouldn’t be possible without a little hand.

“We are supported by the Komen foundation and that covers about 37 co unties in the state of Alabama. So every year they really do a great job promoting programs within the community and bringing these types of programs to the community themselves,”said Menese.

Oh and not to mention the local support.

I’ve lived here most of my life. I practice here. I have never plan to leave and I just really wanted to make sure that people know that Lamar County’s here and we try to support any thing and anybody that comes through here,”Lamar County Nurse.

The function stressed the importance of continuing screenings, and yearly exams even after the cancer is gone but Vo says one thing that often gets swept under the rug is mental health.

“It’s so important to have that brain health you may find yourself, you know with the aging process, having a lot of stress. You can find yourself forgetting and you know losing concentration losing attention and it’s really important to just take care of your mind,” said Vo.

Think Well Program is the North central Alabama affiliate Susan G Komen.