Help Us Support the 3rd Annual Oral Cancer Foundation 5K Walk/Run for Awareness
Louisville Dental Associates is proud to announce our support for the 3rd Annual Oral Cancer Foundation 5K Walk/Run for Awareness, which takes place on Saturday, May 17th at Louisville Community Park. Advanced registration has already begun, but you can continue to sign up for the race and/or pledge your support to this worthwhile cause all the way up to the race day itself.
For those wanting to participate, registration begins at 8:30am on race day at 955 Bella Vista Drive, but you can register in advance or make a donation. With 10 days to go before the race, the Oral Cancer Foundation has only reached 22 percent of its overall goal of raising $25,000 for cancer research. But with your support, we can help the OCF reach its goal and take one step closer to finding a cure for oral cancer.
Walkers or runners can pre-register for $25 or pay $30 to register the day of the event. Students who want to participate can register in advance for $20 or pay $30 the day of the race. Children five and under can participate for free, while kids between the ages of six to 10 can register for $10 at or before the race. Survivors of oral cancer can participate in this year’s event for free. Online registration for the event ends at 12pm on Friday, May 16th.
In addition to this year’s race, the Walk/Run for Awareness will also feature a musical performance by Vinnie Montez, special guest speakers – including survivors of oral cancer and specialists in the field of oncology -, free blood pressure screenings, a balloon artist, caricatures, games, a silent auction and more!
Each year, over 43,000 Americans will receive an oral or pharyngeal cancer diagnosis, and over 8,000 deaths will occur as a result of this disease. Of the 43,000 people newly diagnosed with oral cancer, only slightly more than 50 percent will still be alive in five years. This makes the death rate associated with oral cancer actually higher than that of several more prominently heard about forms to the disease, including testicular cancer, cervical cancer, laryngeal cancer and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The high death rate associated with oral cancer is not the result of the disease being hard to diagnose or discover, but rather due to the late stages of development oral cancer diagnoses are typically made. Even today, no comprehensive program exists in the U.S. designed to raise awareness or make routine screening available to the public at large. As a result, oral cancer is often discovered only after the disease has metastasized to other parts of the body, usually the lymph nodes in the neck.
Particularly troubling with oral cancer is that the disease often goes unnoticed by patients during its early stages, as it often progresses without causing pain or easily recognizable symptoms. The disease also has a high probability of producing additional primary tumors. This means that patients who survive an initial brush with the disease have a 20 times higher risk of developing the disease a second time.
With your help, the Oral Cancer Foundation hopes to provide better support to those dealing with oral cancer and one day hopes to find a cure to this horrible disease. Only when a community comes together to collectively make an effort can we ever hope for change to occur. We hope you’ll join us at Louisville Dental Association, your family dentist in Louisville, CO, to make a difference.