It started as a capstone project for a college student club. Herbert Wertheim Medical SchoolStudents obtained the donated work, auctioned it off, and used the money to provide free mammograms to uninsured women.
ten years later Mobile Mammography Initiative Art Show and Auction is still going strong and will be holding its annual fundraiser this Friday in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
This event is a medical school Linda Fenner Mobile Mammography CenterAffectionately known as ‘Mammovan’, this mobile unit works with community agencies, churches, shelters and clinics to travel resource-scarce areas and provide free mammogram screening, diagnostic services, Provides breast health education to underserved women in Miami-Dade County.
Last year, the art show raised $19,000. That’s enough to pay for 125+ mammograms if other women like Gabriella Sierra can’t afford breast cancer screening.
A single mother of five, Sierra was 40 and had no symptoms when she had her first mammogram at a mobile mammography center. To her surprise, the results indicated a possible tumor. A biopsy confirmed it: cancer. “I started crying uncontrollably,” she says. “What do you mean I have cancer? I couldn’t believe it!”
Fortunately, the cancer was in its early stages, but it was advanced. Within 3 months, she underwent surgery and radiotherapy. Throughout her ordeal, Sierra received guidance and support from Maria Martinez, Breast Health Navigator at the Mobile Center. .”
Three years later, Sierra remains cancer-free and encourages other women to get screened. “She never thought she would have cancer. If it hadn’t been for that mammogram, I would have died,” she says. To find out if you’re eligible for a free mammogram, visit mammography.fiu.edu
Olga Nuñez, a certified radiologist, prepares a patient for a 3D mammogram on board
The University of Medicine’s state-of-the-art Linda Fenner 3D Mobile Mammography Center.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women in the United States. About 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer in her lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also, many are indirectly influenced by relatives and friends who have been diagnosed.
For the past two years, Miami artist Mystix Mercury has been donating work to auctions. Because her battle with breast cancer is personal to her. “My mother is currently in remission. She had a double mastectomy and her experience with that was very scary for us,” she says. “I am happy to help in my own way,” she said.
Erica Merlino, a second-year medical student, says her family history of breast cancer prompted her to join the mobile mammography initiative. Both of her great-grandmothers died of breast cancer. And her maternal aunt is her two-time breast cancer survivor. “Their fight cemented my passion for women’s health and early screening.”
The 11th Annual Mobile Mammography Initiative Art Show & Auction will be held at the Graffiti Museum in Wynwood on Friday, October 14th at 7pm. And if you can’t attend in person, you can join online.
buy a ticket here.
