Curves raises money for breast cancer research

Right, Audrey Griggs, owner of Curves of Hartsville, demonstrates how the Liv Breast Self-Exam Aid works to Charity Cassidy on Tuesday.

By: Lisa Chalian-rock | SCNOW
Published: October 30, 2009

Every year in October, Curves celebrates Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a party, fundraiser, food, demonstrations and more.

In a fun twist to the annual event, Audrey Griggs, owner of Curves of Hartsville, hung a bra from the ceiling of her business for patrons to toss donations to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation into the cups. If the money stayed in the bra, she would match the donation.

Griggs hosted the drop-in at her business on Fifth Street on Tuesday night.

Griggs says she has been lucky not to have been personally touched by breast cancer, but she knows people whose families are affected by the disease. Several Curves members have been affected by it in the past. Layla Warren, an employee at Curves, recently had a cousin, Angie Horton, who passed from breast cancer as well.

Regular screenings for breast cancer is the best way for women to lower their risk of dying from breast cancer because when the disease is caught early it’s most treatable.

Monthly self-breast exams are the first line of defense for women. Griggs demonstrated the Liv Breast Self Exam Aid, which she offers for sale year-round. The founder of Curves, Diane Haven, and Olivia Newton John developed the jelly textured plastic device to magnify lumps in the breast tissue.

In Darlington County, cancer is the number one cause of death, though not specifically breast cancer, and it kills 219 people per 100,000, according a 2007 S.C Department of Health and Environmental Control report. The mortality rate was slightly above heart disease and higher than the rate for the region and the state.

Griggs says she hopes to bring awareness to the issue through this event and her specials. Throughout the month, she will offer a service fee waiver to women who have had a mammogram in the last six months or are scheduled to have one in the next six months. She will waive the fee this month to women who donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation as well.

Door prize winners included Deanna Lesesne, Charity Cassidy, Brenda Sullivan, Diane Moses, Susie Sellers and Pam Cartee. Everyone in attendance received a small goodie bag too.

Curves will continue collecting donations for the foundation through the end of October for those who could not attend Tuesday’s event.

Curves plans to host a self defense class with the Pee Dee Coalition on Nov. 21. To sign up or for information, call (843) 332-5255.