VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Working up a sweat for a good cause with various exercises at Inlet Fitness in Virginia Beach.
The event this past Saturday, called Fitness and Fight had about four different workout classes—and the overall mission, raise awareness and funds to fight ovarian cancer.
It hits close to home to the organizer, Susan Fuhs.
"It does. I'm a three-year ovarian cancer survivor having been diagnosed in 2019," Susan said.
This is her third year organizing the event and says this time, they beat last year's total by $5,000 — raising a total of $16,300.
But Susan points out this was more than a fundraiser, "Most people don't know anything about ovarian cancer. I didn't know anything about it until I was diagnosed and the first thing you read is that there's a five-year survival rate. When I was able to survive that diagnosis and my treatment, I decided to put my— try to develop an education program to let people know the signs and the symptoms because you can recognize them to get treatment earlier."
Susan caught hers early.
"I had pelvic pain and I was incredibly fortunate. I went---the pain was pretty severe, but it didn't last long, but I went to a physician assistant, who referred me for a pelvic ultrasound," she said.
Rick Reed, one of the owners of Inlet Fitness, was glad to play host.
"It's very important for us to help the community out best we can and bring awareness to ovarian cancer," Reed said.
An awareness that for this cancer---Susan stresses, there is no screening tool.
"There's no mammogram or coloscopy for ovarian cancer. So for me, I fundraise to try to support research that's going to help discover what that screening tool could be," she tells us.
For what Susan is doing, News 3 presented her with an Everyday Hero award along with a $300 Visa gift card from Southern Bank.
"Oh my goodness! That will go straight to the fundraiser!" she shouted.
If you would like to contribute, even though the event was last weekend, you can still donate by clicking here.
Also, Susan is trying to launch a program that could help educate students in the medical community first-hand by hearing from ovarian cancer survivors. The program is Survivors Teaching Students (STS). She's planning to hold an informational meeting one evening in October.
Anyone interested (survivor, caregiver, family member) may attend. They should email ocraherovb@gmail.com or they can click here where you can find more information about the STS program. That's also the link to Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, where you can find information on symptoms and resources.
