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Jewish community puts

best foot forward for

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Wilkes s stretch the day before the Avon walk,
clockwise from left, Site Aaronson, Sharona Shapiro,
Judy Goldsmith and Miriam Berzy Seagle.

finishing Sunday afternoon at the
William
Costick Activities Center in
Special to the Jewish News
Farmington Hills.
Putting in 60 miles over three days,
ooking forward to what she
the
walkers were focused on drawing
called "a challenge" and "a fun
attention
to breast cancer, the most
adventure," sneaker-clad
common
form of cancer for American
Miriam Berry Seagle of West
women.
to
her
par-
Bloomfield was bubbly prior.
According to the American Cancer
ticipation in last weekend's Avon Breast
Society, more than 182,000 women in
Cancer 3-Day Walk.
the U.S. are diagnosed with the disease
Seagle, a breast cancer survivor, was
each year. Breast cancer among women
among the thousands of people —
is the second-leading cause of cancer-
many of them Jewish women — who
related deaths in this country; lung can-
chose to walk in the May 31-June 2
cer is first.
fund-raising event. Ranging in age
It probably is not surprising that the
from 18 to senior citizen, the walkers
left Friday morning from University of Jewish community turned out in force
for the Avon Foundation-sponsored
Michigan's Ebel Field in Ann Arbor,

ESTHER ALLWEISS TSCHIRHART

L

event. Genetic counselor Nancy
Petrucelli of the Detroit-based Barbara
.Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
explained that those of "Ashkenazic
Jewish ancestry are at an increased risk
to carry genetic mutations in the
BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, the two
breast cancer genes that have been iden-
tified.
'About one in 800 people in the gen-
eral population carry mutations in one
of these genes, while the number is one
in 40 for those of Ashkenazic Jewish
ancestry," Petrucelli said.
"If someone is positive for BRCA1 or
2, their risk of developing breast cancer
is about 85 percent lifetime."
Men are not spared the disease. In

2001, it was estimated that 1,500
American men would be diagnosed with
breast cancer, and 400 would die. Said
Sharona Shapiro of West Bloomfield,
whose daughter Elisheva volunteered in
the walk, "My husband [David Lerner]
was,tested and he is a carrier of the gene
mutation that indicates an increased
chance of one day having prostate or
breast cancer. This gene mutation may
be passed along to the children of those
who have it."
Diagnosed with breast cancer in
October 1998, Sue Aaronson of
Farmington Hills said she .has "an excel-
lent prognosis," but that doctors won't
say a lot about her chances until she's
been cancer-free for five years — the

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2002

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