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By Komen Denver, January 25, 2010 1:40 pm

Late last year the U.S. Preventive Screening Task Force set off a firestorm of controversy when it announced that routine mammograms weren’t necessary for women in their 40s and that women between the ages of 50 and 74 only needed to get screened every other year.

Well, thankfully, the discourse and pressure from women’s groups, organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, doctors and lawmakers worked. The Senate just approved an amendment to the health-overhaul bill that effectively nullified the Task Force’s guidelines and promised mammogram coverage for women starting at age 40. And, the House voted an impressive 426 – 0 for a resolution saying the guidelines shouldn’t be used by insurers to deny coverage for routine screening.

Here’s a recent Wall Street Journal article that gives a comprehensive update. Check it out.

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By Komen Denver, January 18, 2010 9:12 pm

“Power consists in one’s capacity to link his will with the purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift cooperation” - President Woodrow Wilson

Michele Ostrander, executive director of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Denver Metropolitan Affiliate was recently named one of Denver’s most influential people by 5280 Magazine. Ostrander is in some pretty impressive company (deservedly so!). The list includes Denver Mayor, John Hickenlooper, U.S. Congresswoman Diana DeGette and Denver Nuggets Carmelo Anthony. Congratulations, Michele!! Check it out here: “The 5280 Fifty”.

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By Komen Denver, December 28, 2009 11:12 am

At the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® we have high expectations for 2010; we think it’s going to be a GREAT year! Our hearts are full of hope and optimism!! But, we’d like to remind everyone that we still need your help and that there is still plenty of time to give generously to the cause.

As part of your New Year’s resolution, we hope that you will join us in our fight against breast cancer by making your tax-deductible year-end gift today The simple fact is that the needs in our community are outpacing the dollars the Komen Denver Affiliate has to provide assistance. The fact is that despite being able to give more than $2.8 million to 35 different organizations throughout our service area during this past year, there were more than $1 million in requests we were unable to consider.

Nicole Davis and Daughter Abigail (Courtesy of Sandy Puc' Studios)

Please help us continue to be able to provide assistance and education to women across Colorado, no matter their age, race or economic situation. Women like Nicole Davis, who just last year, at the age of 25 and a brand new mom, was diagnosed with breast cancer. And women like 63-year-old Jeanette Oxelson, who, because she was uninsured at the time she discovered the lump in breast, spent critical months being turned away by “the system” until finally, by the grace and good luck of her “angels” (and her own dogged determination to not take “no” for an answer, especially when her life was on the line!!), received a grant from the Affiliate to be treated at the Caritas Clinic.

The difference you can make: $100 could pay for one mammogram or one day of post-surgery home health care; $250 ($20 per month) could cover five clinical breast exams; $500 ($41 per month) could provide five diagnostic ultrasounds; and $1000 could allow us to provide 10 mammograms for those who might otherwise go without. Of the funds raised by the Affiliate, 75 percent stays in our local community and is awarded to nonprofits providing breast cancer education, screening, treatment, and support services for medically underserved individuals. The remaining 25 percent funds international breast cancer research.

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today by visiting www.komendenver.org and clicking on the “Donate Now” button.

We thank you for your support and generosity.

Happy New Year from the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

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By Komen Denver, December 23, 2009 12:30 pm

Pink Yoga was created two years ago in order to create a safe and healing space for women with breast cancer to practice yoga and find community.

My name is Buffy Barfoot and I am a yoga teacher in Denver, My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all had breast cancer. When I began the process of creating this class, I could not have imagined the beauty and rich community that would unfold. The women who came quickly knitted into a supportive and diverse kula (community of the heart), and brought a current of vitality and wisdom into every class. They truly love, help and support each other without the heaviness and sedentary effects a support group can sometimes have. They are moving together, creating beauty together, and finding such nourishment as individuals within the fabric of a bigger garment.

My intention in creating Pink Yoga is to weave a space for these amazing women faced with this terrible disease to come together and harness their beauty and power and potential to heal. Pink Yoga addresses the needs of women at any stage of breast cancer, from those currently in treatment to those years into their remission.

The weekly practice includes meditation, breathing techniques that open energy channels in the body and encourage healing, and yoga postures designed to strengthen and free the upper body and open the heart. Every student is honored at the door, regardless of her experience, abilities, or limitations. The themes and contemplations offered for each class are built around issues related to breast cancer.

Pink Yoga provides a safe place to nourish all women, and allows the vibrant and positive healing to begin. Anyone is welcome, including those who do not have cancer but would like to support and be a pearl in this luminous strand of women.

Some key benefits to a regular yoga practice include:

-Increase in energy
-Heightened awareness and clarity
-Deeper sense of joy and connection to a larger current
-Proven decrease in menopausal symptoms sometimes induced by cancer treatments
-Increase in flexibility and muscle strength and decrease in joint pain
-Therapeutic benefits related to post-surgery
-Overall increase in health and well-being
-Increase in personal empowerment and self esteem

The important details:

Vital Yoga (Cherry Creek location)
2727 E 2nd Ave
Denver CO

2-3:30 p.m. every Saturday
For more information or questions contact Buffy Barfoot at 720-212-9191 or buffymiranda@gmail.com

Here’s what a few of the women who have participated in Pink Yoga have to say about their experience:

“It has been a gift to practice yoga with women in various stages of breast cancer treatment and survival. It feels like a very authentic way to share and grow a friendship. Who knew that taking Pink Yoga ‘for my friend with breast cancer’ would turn out to be one of the most enriching experiences of my life.” Nancy

“What Pink Yoga Means to me…
a community of like-minded women
some of us fight breast cancer in our bodies
others of us help in the fight by being…present and being strong.

Pink Yoga means reaching out to another being who is afraid and showing her that things might just turn out OK. Pink Yoga is also being the one who is afraid, and sharing the fear with the others, whose love and strength are palpable. Pink Yoga is being present in my own life and in the life of the community.” Sheila

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By Komen Denver, December 9, 2009 4:21 pm

One of our goals as the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure ® is to take a stand and provide information on issues impacting women in our service areas. One of our most critical missions is to support and educate anyone who will listen about the importance of mammography, screening, treatment and prevention.

In our role as educator, sometimes we have to shine a light on some hard realities. We recently had an Op Ed in the Denver Post that focuses on under- and uninsured women in Colorado; one of the most important issues we face as the Affiliate, as part of Komen national, and as a nation.

The article focuses on a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and outlines what we’ve known for quite some time: Colorado is one of the most restrictive states in the nation when it comes to connecting low-income women with diagnosis and treatment.

Clink here to read the Op Ed and more about this important issue.

Briefly, the study (and the Op Ed) highlighted two troubling findings:

• Due to a lack of funding, more than half of eligible low-income, uninsured and underinsured women nationwide are not receiving recommended breast cancer screening.
• More than a dozen states, including Colorado, have left in place restrictions to Medicaid coverage for breast and cervical cancer screening that effectively eliminate all but a small fraction of low-income women, leaving the rest with few options for assistance.

When Congress passed the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2000 it provided Medicaid coverage to uninsured women with breast or cervical cancer who didn’t meet all of Medicaid’s strict eligibility requirements. Simple. But here’s where it gets complicated, because what the law also did was to give each state the option to implement the law as it saw fit. Some states granted the Medicaid coverage across the board, regardless of what clinic a woman was diagnosed in. Others, like Colorado, are more restrictive and deny coverage to women based on one simple criteria: they were diagnosed outside a federally backed facility.

In other words: if a woman in Colorado gets a breast or cervical cancer diagnosis from a clinic or practice that does not receive specific federal funding, she is not eligible for Medicaid even if she meets all the requirements to do so. Just imagine being a woman who just found out she has breast cancer, of having life as you know it turned upside down and having to worry about whether or not the clinic you have gone to is federally funded or not. Would you even think to ask the question? Probably not.

Whether you live shouldn’t depend on where you live. Regretfully, the GAO report confirms what we’ve long seen – that in our state your ability to be treated for breast cancer often depends on whether you went to the “right” clinic, or live in a city or rural area.

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By Komen Denver, October 15, 2009 8:39 am

A new fitness studio in Cherry Creek is dedicated to helping in the fight against breast cancer by hosting its first Passionately Pink Party the entire week of Oct. 12. Brio specializes in power plate technology which has proven to minimize the loss of bone density after chemotherapy and is also a very effective way to get in shape. Go into brio and get a free work out session, donate to the cause and get the chance to win a free month membership as well as other prizes!

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By Komen Denver, October 6, 2009 11:32 am

With nearly 54,000 people participating in the 2009 Komen Denver Race for the Cure, we only get glimpses into their stories with their t-shirts, signs and smiles. We wanted to share some of the blog recaps about the Race for the Cure because it gives insight into why we race, and who these participants are (especially the guy running in pink body paint!) We hope you enjoy their stories as much as we do.

Jenn brought her grandmother Audrey, a breast cancer survivor of 34 years. As Jen says, “I was so amazed to see how many people went out of their way to tell her thank you, or to tell her how much courage she gave them.” Micah Sneed met his fundraising goal for the Race, and thus, had to complete the Race in pink body paint. Check his blog to see the proof. Linda ran in honor of her sister Brenda, a breast cancer survivor. As she says, “Bottom line, my sister has taught me how to LIVE.” Andrea ran on behalf of her co-worker Roberta, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Their team raised $760! Joy ran in celebration of her Grandma Swartz (BC survivor since 1985) and Rebecca Wertz (her Pastor’s wife, who just conquered her 2nd round of BC).

Lorri, a breast cancer survivor, participated along with Lorri’s Lovely Ladies. When she participated last year, her hair was just centimeters long and is now almost to her shoulders! Heather started training for the Race, which was a major accomplishment after undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer earlier this year. Her recap is a sweet testament to fortitude, friendship and family support. Her friend Sonja was the first female finisher in the Race. Sonja ran with a shaved head, which was in honor of her friend Amy, who is currently battling breast cancer. Read her full recap at Mile High Mamas.

Sarah and her friend have been doing the Race together for six years despite having babies and not living in the same state together. Preston and Paty participated for the third year with a new little one on the way! Jen raced with her sister Jamie! Jamie raced with her mom and Hannah. Cece said, “Every year I am in awe of the amount of people who are trying to make a difference.” Mia woke up at 6:30 am to make the Race. The Life of A Little Hippie participated in the Race again with friends and family. Amy, a breast cancer survivor, raised her fundraising goal to $1,000!

One blogger did Sleep In For the Cure and her mother is a 15-year survivor. As she said, “If she had not been so good about going to her regular annual check-ups and mammograms, it could have cost her her life.”

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By Komen Denver, September 29, 2009 11:27 am

We are so lucky to have such amazing companies helping us out. Inscite Partners, a marketing and management consultancy, has announced it will contribute one percent of the total contract values signed in October 2009 to the Denver Metropolitan Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. In recognition of national breast cancer awareness month, proceeds from Inscite will help the Komen Denver Affiliate in their efforts to support local breast health and breast cancer education, screening, treatment and treatment support services to uninsured and underinsured individuals. “We are happy to partner with Komen and support their efforts locally in Denver and nationwide,” said Hollen Ferrendelli, Partner. “Inscite made an organizational decision to support breast cancer awareness. Giving a portion of our earnings to an organization with the mission and reputation of Komen is a win for Inscite, Komen, and the community.”

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By Komen Denver,

We wanted to let you know about a fun way to help Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Stanley Steemer is hosting “Clean for the Cure” on Sept. 30. For a small donation to Komen Denver, Stanley Steemer will steam clean the interior of your car!

WEDNESDAY 9/30 KOHLS 3p-5p 11485 S. TWENTY MILE RD. PARKER, CO. 80134.

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By Komen Denver, September 22, 2009 1:01 pm

Meet Karen Michlas, a breast cancer survivor who found her lump in a self exam due to Buddy Check 9.