Each year for my kids and I, two months stood out on the calendar. October and November. Seems fairly random to the casual observer, but not to us. We’ll start with November. It was November 22, 1999, some 21 years ago now when our lives forever changed. Linda, their mother, my first wife, died of breast cancer at the age of 37. Twenty-one years ago. Wow, 21 years, that just seems so surreal as I sit and write this….

Some on the Outer Banks may remember Linda as the always smiling Human Resources Director at the Galleon Esplanade. When she passed, our oldest Becky was 12. Bryant was 10. And Kallie, the spitting image of her mother was only 5.

Likely now you know why October is also important to us. Worldwide, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was traditionally when as a family we would complete some sort of breast cancer awareness walk to raise funds to help women pay for mammograms.

The kids are older now. All adults, all married, and all with their own families. Their mother would be proud. We live in different geographies and celebrate and grieve in different ways, but it is my hope they still make October as reflective as it once was.

Ok, Greg, good story, but what does all this have to do with a Lifestyle Magazine of the Outer Banks?

Good question. Without argument, we live in paradise on the Outer Banks.

Fewer places (than I have found anyway) are as beautiful as these barrier islands. But we are not insulated from the ugliness of the real world here. We still deal with real worries and real problems.

On the Outer Banks, we are fortunate to have the “Get Pinked” fund, operated through the Development Council at the Outer Banks Hospital. Since its inception in September 2011, the council reports that they have provided funds for 2,008 screening mammograms. Additionally, the fund pays for an average of 200-225 mammograms each year.

Get Pinked was started by co-chairs Carl Curnutte and Linda Willey. Nine years ago Curnutte stated, “The earlier breast cancer is found, the better the chances that treatment will work.” Although many procedures and treatments have changed throughout those 9 years, that statement hasn’t. The earlier, the better is especially true in breast cancer detection.

For women in the United States, breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer. And besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. In 2019, it was estimated that about 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancers.

That is why early detection is so vital and why October has been set up as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Jennifer Schwartzenberg (she herself a breast cancer survivor) and Amy Montgomery of the Outer Banks Hospital to talk about the fund.

“The fund was originally started,” Montgomery said “because at the time there was an issue that people, women and men both, were not able to afford a screening mammogram.”

Montgomery and Schwartzenberg both agreed that Linda Willey and others decided to start the fund so no one would ever have to make the choice as to whether they get a mammogram or not. In the early years, most of the money in the fund would go to paying for those screenings. But in the ensuing years, things changed a bit. “More women were being insured.” Montgomery stated, “so the need wasn’t so much in providing screening mammograms. That allowed us then to use the funds in other ways.”

As most know, Sentora closed their facility in Kitty Hawk. That created a need for more services from the Outer Banks Hospital. Therefore, Get Pinked purchased a second piece of equipment to do more screening mammograms, thanks to the approval of the Development Council. That was able to be done with those funds.

Montgomery continued, “We were also able to start conducting stereotactic breast biopsies too so patients wouldn’t need to travel for that service.”

But then 2020 hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. The usual fundraising sources dried up. Gone was the Driving Fore the Cure golf tournament that Kathleen Brehony
organized each May or June, partly for the benefit of Get Pinked. “They did try to move the golf event to September,” Schwartzenberg said, “but logistically it just didn’t work.”

Also gone is “Get Pinked and More” held traditionally on the first Friday of November. “We’re still holding out hope for the Annual Gala,” Schwarteznberg added. The gala is held each February, and as of this writing, is still scheduled for 2021.

So the moral of the story, according to Montgomery, is that “our fund needs to be re-energized.” And without these typical fundraising opportunities that has become tougher.

“Remember,” Montgomery explained, “screening mammograms are not a one and done event. It’s an annual test, and we need to provide that service to women every year.”

So, how do you get a free screening mammogram, I wanted to know.

“It’s typically from a referral,” Montgomery explained.

“Your primary care professional or the Health Deparment will give women (and men) a referral to come to us. They’re pretty good about that.”

“Certainly there have to be some eligibility requirements?” I asked.

“There are. But not many.” Montgomery stated. “There is no financial threshold that has to be met to get a free screening mammogram. You just have to be a person that doesn’t have insurance to cover the screening.”

“And either live or work in Dare County.” Schwartzenberg added. “But that’s it.”

One of the other really important advancements in Dare County that everyone should be aware of is the work being performed by Dr. Trey Shelton. According to both Montgomery and Schwartzenberg, Dr. Shelton has been provided a grant from Pfizer to conduct genetic testing. “Each person getting the free screening mammogram takes part in a survey and is given a genetic score that will place them in either a low, moderate, or high-risk category. It’s really unheard of for an area as small as we are.”

As both women have stated, all of this takes money. The COVID-19 pandemic took away a large part of their fundraising, but if you would like to help there are ways. As an individual, you can log onto TheOuterBanksHospital.com and select the donate tab at the top of the page and leave a one-time donation, or set up a recurring payment that can be an automatic deduction. If you are part of a company or organization, and you’d like to organize a breast cancer awareness event with your employees or members, you can contact Jennifer Schwartzenberg, Director of Community Outreach & Development, at jennifer.schwartzenberg@theobh.com or at 252-449-5933.

Let’s not allow this October to slip by without doing something to help out other people. Let’s rally, and in the words of Amy Montgomery, let’s re-energize Get Pinked!

Greg Smrdel is the morning show host on RadioFreeOBX.com and editor of Outer Banks Coastal Life