Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun 

Last night, the Minnesota Lynx hosted their annual Breast Health Awareness game, sponsored by the Mayo Clinic. The Lynx wore commemorative pink uniforms that were auctioned off to fans at the end of the night with all money going to the Lynx Foundation which supports breast cancer research programs throughout the state of Minnesota.

So with the night supporting such a great cause, the Lynx took a moment during the second quarter to recognize and support those that made it all possible; the Mayo Clinic.

“It is incredible indeed and it is quite stimulating, I would say, to see this kind of appreciation and support from the crowd,” said Dr. Karthik Ghosh. Ghosh is director of the breast clinic at Mayo Clinic.

The Minnesota Lynx and the Mayo Clinic are truly an excellent partnership and have been for some time now; Minnesota’s practice facility being aptly named The Courts at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Loni Neal, Ghosh’s fellow breast clinic consultant, says the pairing is truly fantastic.

“It has opened up a whole new vista of access for Mayo Clinic in terms of doing what we do best, which is taking care of the needs of the patient because the needs of the patient come first at Mayo and that’s a message that we can’t reach with everyone. So this is just another opportunity to spread that message and invite people to get their medical needs met.” Mayo Clinic is certainly meeting patient needs, especially when one looks at the strides that Mayo Clinic has made in both prevention of breast cancer as well as diagnosis and treatment.

Mayo Clinic has molecular breast imaging, MRI and multiple new technologies to help with a quick diagnosis, as well as genetic treatments and research that attempt to identify, “…who are the women at high risk and can we identify them so we can encourage them to target prevention strategies that are more individualized treatment strategies.”

With so many great advancements being made, Neal says she hopes this night does exactly what it is supposed to do: Provide awareness.

“We really want women to be aware of the need for screening, for self-examination and getting in early so that we can treat breast cancer early and avoid any of the unfortunate downstream effects of untreated cancer,” said Neal.

To continue the amazing work that Mayo Clinic has done and continues to do every day, the Lynx showed their incredible support by presenting Ghosh, Neal and the Mayo Clinic with a grant for $10,000 so that they may continue their amazing treatments and research for a cure for breast cancer. Minnesota Lynx Director of Business Operations Carley Knox presented the grant to Ghosh and Neal during a timeout in the second quarter.

There is simply not enough that can be said about what a great pairing the Minnesota Lynx and Mayo Clinic make; a pairing that Neal couldn’t help but rave about.

“We’re so honored to have this relationship with the Minnesota Lynx,” said Neal. “It’s a great combination and one that will continue to be great for many years to come.”

The Lynx will continue to hold their annual breast health awareness night and by hosting such a great night that raises so much money for such a great cause, Ghosh says that the future looks very bright.

“There is hope for the future thanks to the Lynx and others that support research. There are ways to go, there are things that are happening and there’s definitely hope for the future that with research there will be new avenues in both cure and prevention.”