MD Anderson in the Bay Area Brightens the Ballunar Festival with Pink Lighting in Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month
MD Anderson News Release September 26, 2011
MD Anderson News Release 09/26/11
The MD Anderson Regional Care Center in the Bay Area will honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a special touch of pink at the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce Ballunar Festival.
From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21, MD Anderson's Regional Care Center in the Bay Area will showcase a hot air balloon in the shape of a pink ribbon in the night-time balloon glow and wash the area in soft blush light. The popular Ballunar Festival will be the Texas debut of the unique hot-air balloon.
"We hope our pink ribbon hot air balloon will honor the thousands of breast cancer survivors in our Bay Area community, remind us of those we've lost and encourage every woman to be educated and appropriately screened for breast cancer," says Matthew Ballo, M.D., professor of Radiation Oncology at the center. Ballo, who has been at the center since it opened in 2007, is part of a multidisciplinary team of MD Anderson physicians caring for patients diagnosed with breast cancer.
MD Anderson physicians and staff will be on hand during the event to pass out free educational materials and pink glow necklaces to spread the light of breast cancer awareness and hope.
According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. In 2010, an estimated 207,090 new breast cancer cases were diagnosed in women in the United States, and about 2,000 new breast cancer cases in men. As with all cancers, early detection of breast cancer is key to the best outcome.
The MD Anderson Regional Care Center in the Bay Area is located on the campus of CHRISTUS St. John Hospital in Nassau Bay. As MD Anderson's first comprehensive clinical cancer center to open outside of the Texas Medical Center, the Regional Care Center in the Bay Area provides medical oncology; surgery; radiation oncology, including accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI); chemotherapy infusion; pain management; social and support services and nutritional counseling.
To learn more about the MD Anderson Regional Care Center in the Bay Area visit www.MDAnderson.org/BayArea. For more information on the Ballunar Festival, go to www.ballunarfestival.com. 09/26/11