SUFFOLK -- There are many ways teenagers could choose to spend a Friday night: hang out at a friend's house, catch a movie, run to the mall. A crowd of students, however, go for another option: take on a killer.
"I honestly think that this is one of the greatest ways to get teens and younger people educated and involved in breast cancer awareness," says 16-year-old Kierra Sewell.
The junior from Bayside High School in Virginia Beach is among the crowd of people at "Hoops for the Cure," a basketball fundraiser hosted by Lakeland High School, with proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Not just an attendee, Sewell is a breast cancer survivor. Doctors diagnosed her when she was 14 years old. Sewell found a lump in her right breast. Lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment later, she is cancer free.
"I was looking forward to surviving, so, that way, I could educate others," says Sewell. "I get a lot of teens that, actually, feel confident enough to come to me and say, 'I don't know much about it. I haven't educated myself. What do I need to know? Tell me something. I have a lump. What do I do?'"
"It has no age. It has no limit," Sewell's mom, Dre, says. "I've had three breast lumps, all lumpectomies, all benign, all found by self breast exam."
Dre Sewell and her daughter are extremely disheartened by a federal panel's opinion that the self exams are largely ineffective and create a fear that prompts unnecessary tests and procedures.
"It gets you to a point where it's, 'Hey, there's something there that, at least, needs to be further investigated, further examined.' Why wait?" asks Dre Sewell.
16-year-old Sewell adds, "Self breast exams are awesome. It saved my life., and many women, it has saved their lives."
The Sewells also disagree with the panel's recommendation annual mammograms begin at the age of 50, not 40 as the standard practice has been.
"They say you can't get it, or you don't need it," Sewell tells 13News. "I was looking forward to getting there, looking forward to getting to that age, and, now, you're telling me that I can't. It's like what do I do. You have that tool there for me, but I can't use it. What's the point? It's very confusing."
What is clear for the Sewell is that early intervention is key to survival. Sometimes that intervention is set in motion by the inspiration a story can bring, a pretty remarkable story in Sewell's case, someone who beat cancer at the age of 14.
"I'm able to save lives just by using my voice, and I tell people all the time, 'You have to use your voice. You were given a voice to use it. Use it for something positive,' and I'm using my voice."
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