HELPING  OTHERS  TO  HELP  THEMSELVES
 

WOMEN  IN  ATLANTA  FIGHT  CANCER  HANDS  ON!

Stacie Linsky was always prompt in making appointments for her yearly checkups, but she always dreaded the moment when her doctor would ask her if she was doing monthly breast self-exams.  She always truthfully answered, “No,” but she felt guilty every time.  .  She was never sure if she was doing the exam correctly, or even if she knew where all the relevant breast tissue was.  She felt that “the most difficult thing about performing my own self-exam was trying to remember changes from month to month.”
 

She discussed her concerns with Elaine Banks and other friends and they agreed that most women find breast cancer self-exams too complicated or embarrassing.  So Stacie and Elaine put their heads together and developed the world’s first Breast Self-Exam T-Shirt with complete instructions on what to do and a map showing how to do it printed right on the shirt!  “Now slipping on the T-shirt is easy and I can see exactly what I felt the month before,” says Stacie, President of Mark for Life.  “It helps relieve women’s anxieties and takes the guesswork out of the monthly exam which could ultimately save lives,” notes Elaine, Chief Operations Officer.

In an effort to promote breast self-exams among younger women, these two Atlanta moms have created the Mark for Life Kit, developed with oncologist Dr. Alan Marks  who says that the shirt “encourages the correct procedure, increasing the effectiveness of self-exams.”  The kit includes the patent-pending T-Shirt which has spiral diagrams on the breast and underarm areas, a wash-proof pen to mark any lumps directly on the T-shirt, complete instructions, and calendar stickers to remind women to do their exams. 
 

Early detection saves lives and relies on three components:  breast self-exam, regular physician visits, and mammography.  Since most mammograms are only done once a year, it is important to do monthly self-exams.  Of the women who do self-exams, 70% find their own breast cancer and 97% of women survive breast cancer when it is discovered early.  “Mark for Life’s breast exam T-shirt raises awareness of the need for breast self examination and breast cancer vigilance,” says Dr. Joyce Slingerland, Director, Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute at University of Miami/Sylvester.  Mark for Life will donate a portion of all proceeds to the Institute for breast cancer research.

The Mark for Life Kit was selected as one of the 9 Best New Health Products for Women in the January 2006 issue of Women’s Health Magazine.  The T-Shirts are made in the USA and are 100% “sweatshop-free”!   

Stacie and Elaine, Mark for Life founders, say that “Women everywhere are now able to look their doctors in the eye and answer, “Yes, I do my monthly breast self-examination.”