About 1 in 8 women (about 12%) will develop breast cancer sometime during their lifetime. Every October, the NFL raises money and brings awareness to breast cancer. On Tuesday, October 4, Miami Dolphins alumni and Women’s Organization Members, in partnership with the Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCC), hosted an evening of yoga with cancer patients and survivors in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
More than 60 women participated in an evening of yoga at the Nova Southeastern University campus with Dolphins alum Troy Drayton Elmer Bailey, Arturo Freeman, Lousaka Polite and Twan Russell and members of the Dolphins cheerleaders squad. The group performed a number of yoga poses with music in a very relaxed setting.
At the beginning of the event, women received pink Dolphins Breast Cancer Awareness shirts and were invited to take pictures in a DCC themed photo booth. Then Dolphins Cancer Challenge Director of Operations and Logistics Amanda Chase, pancreatic cancer survivor & DCC participant Camille Moses and Miami Cancer Institute at Baptist Health South Florida Oncology Exercise Physiologist Joann Santiago spoke about the event and how important exercises is to cancer survivors.
“Exercise was considered to be taboo during cancer treatment, not only in breast cancer patients but any cancer patient,” Santiago said. “More studies are emerging on the benefits of exercise and yoga in relationship to breast cancer patients. They’re starting to see that cancer patients can benefit from participating in physical activity. It’s exciting to be a part of an event like this and it’s something that I’m very passionate about.”
“The Miami Dolphins and DCC are committed to fighting cancer of all kinds,” Senior Vice President of Communications and Community Affairs Jason Jenkins said. “We are happy to host this event for the second year in a row and invite those who have been affected by cancer to come together and take part in a fun and relaxing evening centered around yoga.”
According to breastcancer.org, besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. In 2015, it was estimated that just under 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women would be breast cancers.
