Around 70 paintings and sculptures will be auctioned on May 13 at the Querétaro Art Museum by the Breast Cancer Foundation (Fucam), in order to raise funds and equip a mobile unit with mastrographs that, free of charge, will provide mammograms to Queretaro women.
Some of the works, signed by Nierman, Edgardo Kerlegand, Víctor Gutiérrez, José Luis Cuevas, Akio Hanafuji and Andriacci, are hung on the walls of this clinic, which treats some 150 patients daily, but for the president and founder of Fucam , Dr. Fernando Guisa Hohenstein, it is time for these works to be used to prevent breast cancer, which is the leading cause of death in Mexico among the female population.
“With the DIF of Querétaro we will do dumbbell to go to the poorest communities of that state.
“Last month we already started doing the screening mammography campaign in that state. Because the main cause of breast cancer is being a woman,” says the 83-year-old doctor.
The office of the founder of the Fucam shines various family photographs, countless books and an open Bible that is located a few steps from the entrance of what has been his office for more than 20 years.
In fact, on his left hand he wears a beaded bracelet and from it hangs a small medal of Saint Benedict, protector against evil.
The doctor comments to EL UNIVERSAL that “all women in the world, without exception of race or color, are born with a cancer gene and doctors do not know when they will wake up. You can have all the risk factors for breast cancer, but it never happens. And there are women who don’t have them, but it gives them “.
According to the Ministry of Health (Ssa), in 2019, for every 100,000 women aged 20 or older, 35.24 new cases of breast cancer were reported. At the national level, the mortality rate for this disease is 17.19 deaths per 100,000 women aged 20 years or older.
In recent years, the number of deaths caused by breast cancer has increased alarmingly; mainly due to the delay in starting treatment, either due to the delay in seeking medical attention after a woman presents a possible symptom or due to the delay in the health system, particularly when giving the definitive diagnosis.
Dr. Guisa Hohenstein explains that the main risk factors for this type of disease are hereditary, such as family history; long-term use of oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy; early onset of menstruation, late onset of menopause, first pregnancy in middle age, shortening of breastfeeding, childlessness, alcohol consumption, overweight, obesity, and lack of physical activity .
She assures that the increase in breast cancer cases in Mexico was her main reason for creating the foundation.
“Fucam was created to reach the most unprotected and marginalized niches in our country. The high incidence of cancer that exists in our country and that has not been treated was one of the main reasons for creating this institution.
“The important and beautiful thing that Fucam does is to do screening mammograms, which is to take a group of asymptomatic women to do their mammogram. Because in Mexico every two hours a woman dies from breast cancer.
Guisa Hohenstein assures that if breast cancer is detected in time, it is curable up to 98%, although she adds that the country lacks medical education.
“Women should have a medical education to become aware of the importance of having a mammogram from the age of 40.
“If you go to a meeting and ask who has done their mammogram, some will answer: ‘Why? I don’t have anything,’” the doctor says.
He comments that, since its creation, the institution he directs has been concerned with having the most advanced technology in all its equipment: “There is very sophisticated equipment, which they do not have in private clinics or in the health sector, because the administration has tried to ensure that have the best of the best.”
In fact, this hospital center has a team that determines the chances of developing breast cancer, “and you decide whether or not to remove your breasts. Why? Because sooner or later you will get breast cancer.”
Any woman can access the care of this foundation, in which a socioeconomic study is carried out at the beginning, which is classified from A to C. The doctor says that if any woman lacks the resources to pay for her treatment, “they are given facilities … pay what you can for your treatment. The important thing here is to save lives,” she says.
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