Members of the Richmond County Board of Realtors are coming together Friday morning in honor of a Richmond County woman diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer to pose for a photo to raise awareness.

“The whole reason I’m doing it is because my mom is dying of cervical cancer,” said Brandi Heath, executive officer of Realtor board. She is the daughter of Bobbie Monroe who was diagnosed more than a year ago with cervical cancer.

According to Heath, her mother went into remission for 11 months with cancer but it came back earlier this year.

“Like Brandi says, ‘More attention is brought to breast cancer than anything else’,” said Deborah Parsons of Coldwell Banker of Rockingham.

National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month is in January, but Heath said that she felt now would be the best time for her and her mother to do this.

At 11 a.m. Friday, members of the board of Realtors will gather at Coldwell Banker, wearing teal.

Teal is the national cervical cancer color and Heath says she dyed her hair teal for the photo, to not only show her support for the cause, but for her mother.

The photo will serve as a tool to raise awareness in the community of the type of cancer which is underplayed, according to Heath.

“The more people who know, the better,” Heath said. “Women need to have yearly check-ups (to catch issues early).”

According to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition (NCCC), cervical cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancer if women of all ages have a yearly check-up.

The NCCC places a special and personal focus on providing outreach support to women and family members going through the personal battle against cancer and HPV disease, according to their Web site.

Donations can be made to the NCCC by visiting their Web site at www.nccc-online.org.

The photo will be taken Friday morning at 11 a.m. at Coldwell Banker in Rockingham.

“(Brandi) has been good to us,” Parson said. “This is how we can support her.”

Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.