Hundreds of Chattanooga residents join together to support oral cancer survivor and raise awareness
Source: The Oral Cancer Foundation Author: Staff Chattanooga Walk Promotes Early Detection of Oral Cancer NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., June 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recently, oral cancer survivor Jeanna Richelson, organized the first Chattanooga Oral Cancer Awareness Walk, which raised donations for the Oral Cancer Foundation, and much needed awareness of a disease that too few Americans know about. According to the foundation's executive director Brian Hill, "I don't believe there has ever been an oral cancer walk that was this successful in its first year. This was an absolutely amazing effort by Jeanna and those who helped her make this possible." Unlike other cancers we commonly hear about, oral cancer is a disease the majority of the public has heard little about, even though it has one of the highest death rates. Even with famous people who have passed away from this disease such as, Babe Ruth, Sigmund Freud, and George Harrison, it still receives little attention. While walks have become commonplace in many other diseases, raising awareness is no longer part of their function. By having a walk to raise awareness of oral cancer, it also raises awareness of risk factors that people might avoid, encourages simple inexpensive annual screenings, which will in turn reduce the death rate. Jamie O'Day, the treatment facilities coordinator for OCF commented, "This is a disease that in its early stages of development does not always produce symptoms that people might notice. Because of the insidious nature of oral cancer, annual screenings are essential to finding it as precancerous tissue changes, [...]