JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville church held a community health fair Saturday to prompt people to be more aware of their bodies and seek medical help if they notice something unusual with their health.
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For the first time ever, the parking lot at Legacy Ministries Worship Center on University Boulevard was the site for a cancer awareness community health fair.
Lorri Lee launched it in honor of her mother, Patricia Lee, who died from cancer in 2018.
“She was always about supporting others and giving back to the community,” Lorri said about her mother.
Patricia was diagnosed with Stage 2 metastatic breast cancer in 2014. She went into remission but then the cancer came back aggressively in 2017.
She succumbed to it the following year. Patricia was just 52 years old.
Patricia’s death is what motivated her daughter, Lorri, to start the community outreach.
“I am really grateful,” Lorri said as a reaction to all of the people who showed up. “I know that she is looking down from heaven, proud and cheering me on.”
There were free health screenings, Zumba, chair yoga, massages, along with food and drink vendors at the health fair that ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Audrey Holliday was one of hundreds in attendance. She wore a sash that needed no explanation.
Holliday is a cancer survivor and shared details of her journey with News4Jax.
Holliday says she always went for her annual mammograms but last year during one of them, she says her doctor found cancer in her left breast.
But something unexpected happened the day she was scheduled to have an MRI.
“On the morning of the MRI, I am taking a shower and I feel my right breast and found a lump,” Holliday said. “Basically, the MRI found that the cancer did not spread from the left side but during a biopsy on the lump on the right side, they found that it was cancerous. Me not really knowing my body and doing self-breast checks, I did not catch it in time. It did spread.
Thankfully, Holliday said she is doing okay after a procedure to keep the cancer from spreading further. She went through chemotherapy and radiation. Now, she is taking her prescribed pills.
But Holliday and Lorri have some sound advice for anyone who hopes to catch any potential cancer in time.
“My encouragement to women would be to don’t just rely on the mammograms themselves,” Holliday said. “Although you need that, but also do the self-breast exams and know your body. I wish I had known my body a lot sooner.”
“My thing is for them to actually be more conscious and taking care of themselves,” Lorri said. “Take care of their health and well-being.”
As they say, healthy eating, annual checkups, and screenings are key for early detection.