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Breast Cancer

Komen Race for the Cure battles disease that afflicts men and women.

The Way To Race

W

hen Tami Fink of Farmington
Hills was diagnosed with
breast cancer in early March,
she decided to keep a journal as a way of
keeping family and friends updated and
to get her thoughts and feelings out by
sharing her experiences with others going
through the same treatment.
Fink is doing so in a blog — which can
be viewed at www.caringbridge.org/visit/
tamifink.
This isn't the first time Fink's family had
a loved one diagnosed with cancer. Fink's
father, Sam Rosens of West Bloomfield,
was diagnosed and underwent treatment
for breast cancer in 2003. Though he beat
breast cancer once, Rosens recently found
that his cancer had recurred and spread to
his bones.
Both Fink and Rosens have what is
called the BRCA2 gene mutation, one
that is specifically known to exist in
Ashkenazi Jewish families. According
to the National Cancer Institute (NCI),
people with the BRCA1 and BRCA2
gene mutation have an increased risk of
developing certain cancers. A BRCA1 or
BRCA2 carrier has a 50 percent chance
of transmitting this gene mutation to the
next generation. Women who have the
gene mutation and breast cancer have
a higher risk of a second breast cancer
diagnosis within five years as well the
occurrence of ovarian cancer. For this
reason, Tami Fink will undergo both a
double mastectomy and removal of her
ovaries after her chemotherapy treat-
ments end.
Along with letting people follow and
learn from her fight with breast cancer,
Fink also hopes to raise awareness on the

Sam Rosens and his daughter, Tami Fink, are both inspiring survivors.

severity of breast cancer for both men
and women. Many people do not con-
sider males to be at risk for breast cancer
and while breast cancer rates in males
are much lower than in women, BRCA
gene mutations increase the likelihood
of male breast cancer by 60 fold. The NCI
estimates that so far this year there have
been 182,460 new cases of breast cancer
reported in women and 1,990 reported in
men. Both Fink and Rosens hope breast
examinations will become part of a stan-
dard physical for men as it already is for

women.
On May 31, Fink plans on attending the
17th annual Komen Detroit Race for the
Cure, locally presented by the Karmanos
Cancer Institute. Her friends and family
have formed Tami's Team and will par-
ticipate in support of her.
"I would not be able to make it
through this ordeal without the love and
support of my husband, Gary, my daugh-
ter, Danielle, 15, my son, David, 13, and
my extended family and friends that I
call my support system;' Fink said. ❑

This year's Komen Race for the Cure
will be held at Comerica Park in
Detroit. It will kick off with the open-
ing ceremony at 8 a.m. followed by
the race at 9. Events include a 5K
competitive race, a 5K walk and a
one-mile walk. The closing ceremony,
celebrating survivorship and dedica-
tion to end breast cancer, will begin
at 10:30 a.m. To participate in or
donate to 'Tami's Team' go to: www.
active.com/donate/detroitRFTC08/
KomenTFink.
Organizations that wish to become
involved can do so through sponsor-
ship opportunities. For sponsorship
information, call (248) 351-1862.
Individuals are encouraged to reg-
ister for the race online at www.
karmanos.org/raceforthecuredetroit/
registration.asp through May 29, at 5
p.m. The cost is $12-$40 and varies
by age, the time one registers and
online versus onsite registration.
Onsite registration will be available
at the Komen Detroit Race for the
Cure Expo on May 30 from 9 a.m.-6
p.m. and on race day beginning at 7
a.m. For those registering after May
23, race packets (T-Shirt, pin, bib
number and parking information) can
be picked up at the Race Expo all day
or on race day from 7 to 8:45 a.m.
The Race Expo will be held at the
Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711
Woodward, Detroit. This free event
will raise excitement for the home-
town race and offer entertainment,
merchandise and pink ribbons to
honor loved ones. ❑

U-M Geriatrics Director Feted

Ann Arbor

D

r. Jeffrey B. Halter, director of
the University of Michigan
Geriatrics Center and Institute
of Gerontology, has been named the 2008
Nascher/Manning Award recipient of the
American Geriatrics Society.
The award is given to an individual
with distinguished lifelong achievement in
clinical geriatrics. Halter was cited by the

research, education, and com-
AGS Board of Directors and the
munity programs on aging and
Awards Committee for his signifi-
age-related diseases.
cant contributions as "a leader in
Halter established the Geriatric
the field of geriatrics, an educator,
Research, Education and Clinical
and an author."
Center of the VA Ann Arbor
Halter is U-M professor of
Healthcare System in 1989, where
internal medicine and chief of the
he
served as director until 1998.
Division of Geriatric Medicine.
Jeffrey Halter
Halter specializes in the treat-
He is the founding director of the
U-M Geriatrics Center, established in 1987 ment of diabetes mellitus in older adults.
He is author of more than 250 research
and comprising multidisciplinary clinical,

papers and book chapters. He is senior
editor of the sixth edition of Hazzard's
Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, to be
published by McGraw-Hill this year.
The AGS Nascher/Manning Award was
established in 1987 to honor Ignatz Leo
Nascher, M.D. (1863-1944), who argued
that the diseases and medical care of the
aged should be considered a separate spe-
cialty, for which he coined the term "geri-
atrics" in 1909. ❑

May 22 • 2008

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