(Bradenton, Fla., Oct. 18, 2018) — Adrienne Dejean works in admissions for State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF). In addition to helping get students enrolled in school, Dejean is a single mom who has little time for herself. She admits that has meant she hasn’t always been proactive in taking care of her health.
SCF offers a health and wellness program that makes it hard to ignore your health. Dejean wants to make it hard for others to put off life-saving tests in recognition of National Mammography Day, Oct. 19.
“I was aware that I was supposed to have yearly mammograms, but I had been putting it off,” Dejean said. “When I saw that the mobile mammogram was coming on campus, I really had no excuse, so I made my appointment.”
A week after she had the mammogram on campus, Dejean received a phone call informing her that her results were irregular and that she needed to have another mammogram immediately. Within a few months, Dejean had a total of three mammograms, an ultrasound and a biopsy. Doctors determined that she had stage one breast cancer.
She credits SCF’s wellness program for the early diagnosis. Without the program bringing the huge pink bus on the campus, she might have continued to put off her mammogram.
“I also found out through this process that I have a cancer gene, so in September of 2017 I had a bilateral mastectomy,” Dejean said. “Because the cancer was caught early, I did not need chemo or radiation.”
She said without the program, she doesn’t know how long the cancer might have gone undiagnosed.
“I probably would not have known until it was in later stages, and it may have been too late to treat,” Dejean said. “The wellness program saved my life.”