Breast Cancer Diagnosis Ignites Global "Check Your Chest" Campaign

ROCKVILLE, Md. - EntSun -- Although it's a rapid screening that can save a woman's life, oncologists report a 40% decline in cancer screening during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Jen Coken is on a personal mission to change that after her shocking diagnosis.  She found a lump through her own self-breast exam and confirmed it through a mammogram.  She was four months overdue to get it because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  She wants to urge women that self-examination isn't enough and that getting a mammogram was a life-saving decision.  Most breast cancer is only detecable by mammogram.

"I did everything 'right'," she says, noting the genetic testing she did years ago as well as her monthly self-breast exams and annual mammograms.  "I had put off my mammogram due to COVID because I was arrogant enough to think I had a low risk of breast cancer." What she didn't know was that 85% of breast cancer occurs in women with no family history of the disease according to survivingbreastcancer.org.

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Jen is now on a mission to take her experience and empower women worldwide to go the distance. Her "Check Your Chest" campaign is a call to action for women everywhere to take charge of their health and advocate for their well-being.  "We so often put ourselves last and mammogram appointments are down dramatically during the pandemic.  We have to use the tools and resources we have to ensure we are doing everything we can to ensure a long, healthy life.  A mammogram is an enormous part of that for women over 40 or anyone with a family history of the disease."

The "Check Your Chest" campaign calls for women to share their experience of getting a mammogram, and encourage friends and family to get checked.  Jen hopes that having the conversation often and normalizing mammograms will help women make decisions that could save lives.  Her goal is to have one million women get a mammogram and share their experience on social platforms using the hashtag #CheckYourChest.

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Jen is set for surgery and treatment this fall and is optimistic about the outcome.  "I want to do whatever I can to help save someone else from getting the "you have breast cancer" call.  The more we start talking about this and encouraging others to use every tool in our arsenal, the more lives we will save."

Jen Coken is a keynote speaker, Imposter Syndrome expert, author, comedian, and international executive coach.  Her best-selling book, "When I Die, Take My Panties," is an inspiring, raw, and funny memoir about coping with her mother's death from ovarian cancer and what it took to push on through.

To follow Jen's journey, follow her on CaringBridge.   To share your own story, you can follow her on Instagram at @JenCoken or find her at www.JenCoken.com.