JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dozens of women attended UF Health hosted its annual Breast Cancer Symposium on Thursday night.
Doctors with UF Health said the event is an opportunity for patients to ask questions outside of the office.
"The message that we give to the people is basically that knowledge is the power. The more they know about it, what kind of breast cancer they have and what are their options for therapy. They are going to be much better off with respect to their outcome," said Dr. Shahla Masood. "Patients need to participate in this process of learning what they have, and what are their options."
Dr. John Murray, a reconstructive surgeon with UF Health, said great progress is being made in breast cancer research. He said the disease is being detected earlier because of advanced diagnostic techniques.
Barbara Hoffmeyer, a breast cancer survivor is now fighting the disease for a third time. She said she never misses the event.
"There's a lot of support here, a lot of support, and I'm very blessed to have all these people, you know, behind us, giving us the new medications and telling us what's going on these days," said Hoffmeyer.