FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology is pleased to announce that Stefanie LaRue of Woodland Hills, Calif., has been selected as the 2007 Survivor Circle Award winner. Ms. LaRue will be presented with her award and a $1,000 cash prize on Sunday, October 28, 2007, at 8:00 a.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center during ASTRO's 49th Annual Meeting, which will take place October 28 through November 1 in Los Angeles.
The Survivor Circle Award recognizes a person living with cancer in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who has devoted his or her time to helping others who are living with cancer in their community. Ms. LaRue was diagnosed with Stage-4 Advanced/Metastatic Breast Cancer in 2005 at the age of 30. Before receiving her diagnosis, she was misdiagnosed by three doctors who told her that she probably had a breast infection because she was too "young and healthy" to have breast cancer. Ms. LaRue now devotes her time to educating men as well as women and the medical and insurance communities about diagnosing breast cancer and preventing misdiagnoses in women under the age of 40.
"It is always inspiring to see a person who is diagnosed with a very devastating type of cancer at a young age turn that experience into an opportunity to educate and help others who are in a similar situation," said Louis Harrison, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and president of the Board of Directors for ASTRO. "Ms. LaRue's dedication to her cause will hopefully raise awareness that breast cancer can strike at any age."
According to the Young Survival Coalition, an international, nonprofit
organization dedicated specifically to the issues and concerns of young
women with breast cancer, there are more than 250,000 women in the U.S.
under the age of 40 who are living with breast cancer; however, there is no
effective screening tool for this age grou
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