Bayfront Health hosts event during Breast Cancer Awareness month, promotes mammograms

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Bayfront Health in St. Petersburg held a ‘Mocktails and Mammos’ event Thursday night in an effort to share important information on women’s health during Breast Cancer Awareness month – and encourage visitors to schedule their yearly mammograms.

One in eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime, according to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. One in 200 men will also receive that diagnosis.

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Bayfront medical staff says the benefit to a yearly mammogram if you’re over age 40 is catching the cancer early, because at stage 0 or stage 1, the survival rate is still nearly 100 percent.

Bayfront Health says women should schedule their mammograms.

"The earlier we catch it the better it is for everybody. We want to catch it early we want to live your healthy, normal life," Dr. Michael Hwang told FOX 13. "It’s just 20-30 minutes a year, that’s a year of peace of mind."

A guest at Tuesday’s event, Shelby Coriaty, is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed with stage 3 just days after her 40th birthday.

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"It’s been an extremely long journey," Coriaty said. "It was five years of my life. I had 30 surgeries in just five years. I really don’t even remember being 40 to 45 [years old]."

Now, she has a message for not just those over 40-years-old, but all ages.

"We are seeing a significant increase in cancers in much younger women. It’s just the fact that you’re a woman and, therefore, you’re at risk. So ask the questions, get checked out and talk to your family about your family history."

Detecting cancer early could be life-saving.

Bayfront Health is also the only medical center in Tampa Bay that uses new 50 degree 3D technology for breast imaging, which can detect more than double what standard mammography can catch.

"Knowledge is power. We know [breast cancer] the most common diagnosis around the world, second most common in the U.S.," Dr. Hwang said. "Years and decades of research has shown us that we have one tool -- it’s in our chest -- to save lives and improve life and that’s mammography."