Who says pink is for girls?
For National Mammogram Day on Oct. 21 several doctors at Sharp Chula Vista and members of the Chula Vista police and fire departments teamed up for Men of Sharp Chula Vista Go Pink … Again event.
Last year the event raised awareness of the importance of mammograms and early detection of breast cancer by asking men to temporarily dye pink the facial hair of Sharp executives, physicians, employees, and Chula Vista police officers and firefighters.
Arcovedo got ready for this year’s campaign by letting his beard grow for the last three weeks. He said he plans on keeping his beard pink just for a couple of days.
“I wouldn’t do it on a regular basis,” he said about dying his beard. “I think it is cute and it catches the attention of people. If I were in the position of a woman and I see maales doing that — dying their beards pink — it would mean to me that they are supporting me, that they are behind me, that they are empathizing with me.”
Arcovedo said being a surgeon he knows the importance of a mammogram. He said the sooner breast cancer is detected from a mammogram, the easier it is to operate on a cancer cell in its early stages.
Arcovedo said women often delay getting a mammogram, or neglect to get one, because they are afraid to find out their results.
“Most women say, ‘I have no pain, I don’t have anything so why should I get a mammogram?’” he said.
He said detecting breast cancer in its early stages no longer equates to a death sentence. He said when patients first find out they have breast cancer they automatically think they are going to die but that should no longer be the case if breast cancer is detected early.
“Immediately the first thing I notice from my patients (once they find out they have breast cancer) is that sense of doom,” he said. “They hear the word cancer and they think they are dead. That is no longer true. Breast cancer, particularly, is very curable.”
Anamaria “Snooky” Rico, owner and president of Rico’s on Third Hair Salon, is a breast cancer survivor. Nearly three years ago she got a mammogram at Sharp Chula Vista that revealed an abnormality. Further tests showed she had stage two cancer.
She said she is grateful for the men participating in dying their beards pink to raise awareness.
“I am honored and blessed beyond measures that these people who are leaders in our community are willing to recognize the need for breast cancer awareness for prevention and early detection.” She said. “It means the world to me that they were all involved.
Rico, 58, also knows the importance of getting a mammogram as that is what detected her cancer.
“It’s so important for women to be conscious of getting their mammograms on a regular basis because I was a woman who would get my mammograms but would procrastinate on following up on things,” she said. “We as women, know our bodies and we know when something is wrong.”
