<\/a>Dwayne Joseph
\n<\/strong>Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jackson State University Head Basketball Coach Wayne Brent shared his personal journey with breast cancer at the Breast Cancer Awareness Kick Off Event Hotspot on Wednesday, Oct. 22.<\/p>\n

Brent, guest speaker at the event sponsored by the Residence Hall Association (RHA), shared how he was affected when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. He says that he never missed a day of work until he \u201cran into cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother died in 2009 on Valentine\u2019s Day after we won the District Tournament against Ridgeland. Seeing my mother die was a change in my life,\u201d said Brent. He has given at least $30,000 over the years to the campaign for finding a cure for breast cancer.<\/p>\n

Brent encouraged any and everyone to get tested for breast cancer.<\/p>\n

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide and the second-most common cancer overall. About 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. In 2014, an estimated 232,030 cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. alone<\/p>\n

Alarming statistics like these is why Darnell Barksdale, RHA advisor, believes it is imperative to raise the awareness of breast cancer in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why RHA has decided to join the fight against breast cancer and hopefully encourage others to join the fight too,\u201d said Barksdale.<\/p>\n

The event highlighted ways students can practice proactive measures to prevent or detect the disease early.<\/p>\n

Lacy Jones, a senior earth system science major from Meridian, Miss., lost an aunt to breast cancer and offered advice to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo your self exams and go to the doctor at least twice a year so that if you are diagnosed with it, the doctors can catch it at an early stage,\u201d said Jones.<\/p>\n

Lakrishay Simmons, a junior biology pre-nursing major from Lexington, Miss., stated that her great-grandmother was diagnosed at an early stage of breast cancer and survived.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe dealt with this matter by taking her to the appointments and being there for her during the chemotherapy she went through. My great-grandmother is a survivor,\u201d said Simmons.<\/p>\n

During the Hotspot, a pink \u201cDrive to Survive\u201d truck sponsored by Patty Peck Honda was available for students to sign their names or write encouraging words to breast cancer survivors.<\/p>\n

Wennie Sansing, a senior physics major from Indianola, Miss., signed the truck in memory of her great aunt who is currently battling breast cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI signed the truck because I have lost a lot of women in my family due to breast cancer. It runs in my family so I get checked every time I go to the doctor,\u201d said Sansing. \u201cAll we can do as a family is encourage my aunt, be there for her and take care of our own health.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photos by William Kelly<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dwayne Joseph Staff Writer Jackson State University Head Basketball Coach Wayne Brent shared his personal journey with breast cancer at the Breast Cancer Awareness Kick…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_plus_post_options":"{}","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}