Local Support Up for Komen Puget Sound's Breast Cancer Lunch

About 450 supporters are expected at a fund-raising lunch Wednesday to hear Susan Ford Bales--breast cancer awareness advocate and co-founder, with her mother, Betty Ford, of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This year’s Komen Puget Sound’s 10th Anniversary Power of a Promise event is being held at the Sheraton Seattle.

Attendance is up from the 362 people who participated last year, said Jim Clune, communications manager for the Puget Sound affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. He attributed the increase in part to the location change to Seattle from Bellevue.

Some local facts:

• 75 percent of Komen Puget Sound’s net revenue is invested into breast cancer education, early detection and patient assistance programs in the Puget Sound region. 25 percent goes straight to funding global research to prevent, treat and ultimately find a cure for breast cancer.
• 91,668 (24.3 percent) of women in our state, ages 40 to 64 who are most at risk, don’t have health insurance. This is the number one reason women fail to have a mammogram. Komen Puget Sound is Washington state’s largest provider of free mammograms for low income, uninsured women, providing over 13,000 screenings last year. These screenings resulted in breast cancer being detected in 244 of these women.
• Last year, Komen Puget Sound’s Patient Assistance Program provided 574 low-income women with financial assistance to ensure they could pay for food, shelter and utilities while undergoing breast cancer treatment.

Wednesday’s event is full and reservations are now closed.