On Sunday, September 30, my family and I participated in the FACES event to raise awareness of cancer in the Hispanic community. As the motto of Yager Esthetics is “In the community, for the community”, how could we not participate?

I brought my 3 year old and 6 year old daughters, as community service and Hispanic heritage are important for them to learn. They helped set up the booth, hand out educational materials, and test all of the playground areas in Fort Tryon Park just to make sure they were fun.

Hundreds of people turned out for a moving and impactful day. The stories of loved ones lost, survivors, and community leaders were emotionally powerful. Many tears were shed.

As someone who is a doctor, I shared my personal stories of family tragedy caused by cancer and the failure to seek early help. Prevention and screening were the messages I delivered to the people in attendance.

While patients come to Yager Esthetics to look better, I am still a physician who looks out for health first. We have discovered serious medical problems and have even found very early cancers through our preoperative testing program.

I urge all who read this to do annual exams, do colonoscopies and mammograms, and know your family history so we can prevent cancer from taking lives.