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Cancer survivors share advice
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Phillip and Janice Rozier of Liberty County receive chiropractic advice from Andrew Nolt at the cancer-awareness event. - photo by Photo by Samantah B. Koss

The fourth annual “Together for Hope” breast and prostate cancer-awareness event was held Saturday at Dorchester Academy in Midway to inform families about the importance of cancer education and to raise money for cancer-awareness organizations.
The proceeds benefitted Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Passionately Pink and the Richardson Prostate Cancer Fund at the Memorial Health Foundation. The event was hosted by the Southeastern Coastal Club along with several community organizations. The Full Tyme car club and the Coastal Riders of Georgia motorcycle club from Hinesville, Sisters in Motion motorcycle club from Jacksonville, Georgia Bad Boys motorcycle club from Darien and others attended the event to show their support for building cancer awareness.
”It is important to inform the community about breast and prostate cancer,” event coordinator Kim Harrison said. “Many people don’t really know much about cancer until they or someone they know is diagnosed.”
This year was the fourth year Harrison coordinated the event to build awareness and promote cancer education. The event was held in Savannah the past three years, and Saturday was the first time it was held in Liberty County.
“I wanted to bring it home,” The fourth annual “Together for Hope” breast and prostate cancer-awareness event was held Saturday at Dorchester Academy in Midway to inform families about the importance of cancer education and to raise money for cancer-awareness organizations.
The proceeds benefitted Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Passionately Pink and the Richardson Prostate Cancer Fund at the Memorial Health Foundation. The event was hosted by the Southeastern Coastal Club along with several community organizations. The Full Tyme car club and the Coastal Riders of Georgia motorcycle club from Hinesville, Sisters in Motion motorcycle club from Jacksonville, Georgia Bad Boys motorcycle club from Darien and others attended the event to show their support for building cancer awareness.
”It is important to inform the community about breast and prostate cancer,” event coordinator Kim Harrison said. “Many people don’t really know much about cancer until they or someone they know is diagnosed.”
This year was the fourth year Harrison coordinated the event to build awareness and promote cancer education. The event was held in Savannah the past three years, and Saturday was the first time it was held in Liberty County.
“I wanted to bring it home,” said Harrison, who lives in Hinesville and works at Fort Stewart’s Winn Army Community Hospital.
Harrison started the awareness event to promote cancer education because of a friend, Patty Briscoe, who died from breast cancer.
“I didn’t know much about breast cancer until Patty got it,” she said. “It was so hard to see a friend suffer and die from breast cancer, so I want to inform people so they know what it is all about.”
Many cancer survivors attended the event to offer advice on living through cancer. Rose Seda, a four-time cancer survivor, spoke at the event to encourage women and men to keep up with their health checks.
“I want the men out there to know that they, too, can get breast cancer,” she said. “It’s unfortunate, but men can get both breast and prostate cancers, so you need to perform self-checks and get your prostate checked by a doctor.”
Seda was diagnosed with breast cancer three times and kidney cancer once. After all her health setbacks, she said she never lost her sense of humor and always remembers to look on the bright side.
“Get checked early, keep your faith and sense of humor,” she advised the crowd. “You will make it through … we are blessed to be survivors.”
Breast-cancer survivor Latresisa Lassiter, 43, was diagnosed in December 2012, just after moving with her husband, Sgt. First Class Russell Lassiter, to Fort Stewart. She considered herself lucky because she caught the lump in her breast early during a self-breast exam.
“My advice to everyone is to do those self-exams and get those mammograms,” Lassiter said. “You should do them at least once a month.”
She also said that the position a person performs their self-check in is important.
“You need to check while laying down and standing up,” she said. “I would never have felt my lump if I hadn’t changed positions.”
Lassiter was surprised to learn she had cancer since she doesn’t have a family history of breast cancer. Today, less than a year after detection, she is cancer-free. She found the lump early enough to avoid needing radiation or chemotherapy and opted to have a double mastectomy to basically eliminate her chances of getting breast cancer again.
“I would have made myself crazy with worry if I kept the right breast,” she said. “I would have worried every day, wondering when the cancer would show up.”
Lassiter tries to share her story with others to help them realize that they are not alone. She believes a good support system and education are important to survive cancer.

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