The Marion L. Shepard Cancer Center invites area residents to a program that provides attendees with valuable education about early detection of Lymphedema. The program is part of a monthly outreach program to raise awareness and serve local victims of cancer.

The center offers a variety of free programs and activities each month to help cancer patients and survivors, as well as their caregiver, deal with the emotional and physical challenges associated with cancer. Through the programs, the center provides integrative therapies that complement traditional care at no cost to participants and are not limited to patients at the center, according to Kristi Fearrington, social oncology worker at the center.

This month’s Lymphedema Lunch and Learn, set for Aug. 25 at noon at the Grace Martin Harwell Senior Center, will instruct attendees on how to detect the disease and learn more about risk factors, as well as signs and symptoms. Lymphedema, or lymphatic obstruction, is a condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling caused by a compromised lymphatic system. The condition can be inherited, though it is frequently caused by cancer treatments and parasitic infections.

“Our community outreach focus it to alert people to the early detection of Lymphedema,” Fearrington said. “(Lymphedema) is one of those things where we’ve learned you can’t cure it once it’s present. You have to do early detection and manage it there. In our effort to do community outreach and education on early detection and prevention, it seems like a really good thing to focus on at the center.”

Maria Stalls, a certified Lymphedema therapist at the center, will host the program, giving those present information that can lead them to early detection. Most people who have been treated for cancer run a higher risk of developing the disease, particularly those who’ve had breast or testicular cancer, as well as those who’ve undergone orthopedic surgery. Although the disease is not curable, it can still be treated, even if a patient has lived with the condition for a long time, Stalls said.

Stalls said early detection identified through education programs, as well as talking to a primary caregiver, can make a difference between a patient developing a chronic case.

“We’re seeing more (cases) because I think there’s just more awareness of it,” Stalls said. “Our treatment has completely changed in the 19 years I’ve been doing this. It’s just new research and new ways of treating it. I think it’s just important for people to know it’s treatable. Some people have had it for so long and just accepted that it’s apart of their life, and that’s just not the case. It can be managed even if they’ve had it for a long time.”

The Shepard Cancer Foundation funds the supportive services, complementary therapies and educational programs at the center. Monthly programs like the American Cancer Society program Look Good…Feel Better, a hands-on group session for adult female cancer survivors currently in treatment, helps them cope with the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Also offered are restorative yoga and meditation on Mondays at 6 p.m. at Vidant Wellness Center, as well as therapeutic massage, two programs that are in high demand among survivors and patients, Fearrington said. The 25-minute hand, foot or chair massages are offered each week at two locations.

To pre-register for the Lymphedema Lunch and Learn, call the Marion L. Shepard Cancer Center at 252-974-9409. Attendees must pre-register for the catered event by Aug. 21. For the massage therapies, call either location for an appointment — Cancer Center at 252-975-4308 or Market Street Massage at 252-946-8989.