Defeating cancer

Regular cancer screening saved Zsu Zsa Elchuk’s life.

Doctors diagnosed Elchuk with cancer two years ago and a few months later she started chemotherapy. She said doctors told her she would be fine, and she has since begun regular maintenance at the Regional Cancer Care to ensure she remains healthy.

She is now a believer that early detection is the key to beating cancer.

"You have to live through it…it’s your life," Elchuk said. "When I reached the magic age of 50 I became a client of the Ontario Breast Screening program. Every two years I go for my examinations. It’s quick, easy, and very important to my health."

Elchuk joined in the celebration of the Ontario Breast Screening program 20th anniversary on Tuesday at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. The program has provided more than 3 million screenings to more than a million women, between the ages of 50 to 69, across Ontario.

OBSP delivers services through 153 screening sites across the province including a mobile unit in northwestern Ontario.

Lori Della Vedova, manager of screening programs with the Regional Cancer Care Northwest, said there are still a number of women who don’t know about the breast-screening program.

To bring further awareness to breast screening, the regional cancer care plans to host a mammogram marathon on Oct. 18 and try to screen 160 women who hadn’t been previously screened, she said.

"The earlier breast cancer is detected the sooner treatment can begin and then the future looks brighter and positive," Vedova said. "It’s important to get it done. In our program you need to be at least 50 years old to start and we encourage women to get screened."