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Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center By Laura Freeman
Hearing the words “breast cancer” may be the loneliest moment some women ever face. However, from the day of diagnosis, patients in the four-county Birmingham metro area are never alone. They have the support, resources and volunteers of the Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center standing with them. “Our peer match program teams each patient with a survivor who has been through the same experience,” Claire Gray, Forge Community Outreach Coordinator, said. “Patients who are newly diagnosed usually have a lot of questions. It can be difficult to absorb everything you hear in those early office visits, and some things can only be answered by someone
Forge is housed in a Victorian home in Five Points.
who has been through the same thing. “Sometimes it’s good to just have another set of ears and a person you can talk with without having to be brave. Survivors learn a lot from each other and share ideas about coping with everyday life while in treatment.” Created as a special project funded by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham’s Women’s Breast Health Fund and partnering with local hospitals and health care providers, the Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center is geared not to duplicate available services, but to fill the gaps. These gaps became larger recently when a major national support organization closed its local offices across the country. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 3)
New Relief for Massive Irreparable Rotator Cuff Tears By Jane ehrharDT
What used to be a long and arduous treatment and rehabilitation for massive and irreparable rotator cuff tears has been cut in half with a procedure now being performed at UAB. Amit Momaya, MD, UAB Chief of Sports Medicine, completed the first subacromial balloon spacer technique in Alabama in January. Most massive and irreparable rotator cuff tears occur in older adults over 55. “Not to say we couldn’t do this in someone under 55, you’re just not likely to see this condition in the young because they
don’t have this muscle atrophy and wasting,” Momaya says. Typically, this severe condition occurs as an aging disfunction where blood supply to the rotator cuff wanes allowing for tears that worsen over time. “Some people may not even know they have a tear, until it’s affecting their function,” Momaya says. “If it goes untreated, the rotator cuff tears more and more and can get scarred and become not repairable.” When the tendons and muscles of the rotator cuff that surround the shoulder joint tear, it allows the humeral head— (CONTINUED ON PAGE 8)
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