A Greenwood breast cancer survivor is being honored for her life-saving efforts to recruit other women to get mammograms.
Annie Randle, 54, received a framed certificate and $100 check Thursday from Freddie White-Johnson, executive director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Cancer Foundation.
Randle persuaded 20 women who couldn’t otherwise afford it to get checked for mammograms through a grant provided by the Avon Foundation for Women. Three of the women were diagnosed with breast cancer.
“She’s to be commended on that because these ladies perhaps would have died prematurely. They didn’t have any insurance,” White-Johnson said.
Randle heard about cancer screening efforts on the radio last year and spoke with White-Johnson about becoming a volunteer. However, to become a community health advisor who teaches others about the importance of early screening, you must have undergone the screenings yourself.
Randle said she couldn’t afford a mammogram but was able to get one through the Avon Foundation.
It revealed cancer, and Randle began a difficult period of chemotherapy, both physically and mentally.
“When you go through that situation, you need somebody to talk to because I thought I was going to lose it,” Randle said.
Randle’s cancer is now in remission, and she recently completed a five-week training course to become a community health advisor sponsored by the University of Southern Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer Cancer Foundation and Delta Regional Mississippi Partnership for Comprehensive Cancer Control.
The Cancer Foundation is now planning on launching a breast cancer survivors support group in October. Anyone interested in participating can call the Cancer Foundation at 453-1835.White-Johnson said they want the whole family to be involved in the counseling.
