Is Eva Longoria a golf chick or just posing for a good cause?

Eva Longoria, the Desperate Housewives star, has teamed up with the Entertainment Industry Foundation and the Callaway Golf Foundation to raise awareness and funds for ovarian cancer prevention. That partnership included a $1 million donation from Callaway for the cause.

I have to say – GREAT cause. Early detection is key to improving the survival rate and the existing screening tests are woefully inadequate. Callaway’s $1 million contribution established a Callaway Golf Foundation Women’s Cancer Initiative (CGFWCI) at four cancer institutions to speed along the efforts.

From Dr. Beth Karlan at the lead institution:

Early detection is a primary objective of ovarian cancer research because of its promise for improved survival and quality of life. The overall five year survival for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer is 50%, but when the cancer is detected early, while it is still confined to the ovaries, prolonged survival and even cure is possible for over 95% of these women. Unfortunately, at the current time the majority of cases are diagnosed at a late stage after the tumor has spread widely, in large part, due to a lack of effective screening and early detection techniques. Ovarian cancer mortality could be reduced dramatically, even without advances in therapy, if a majority of the women affected with ovarian cancer could be diagnosed at an early stage. We have had a long standing interest in discovering effective means of early detection since our initiation of the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Program in 1991. In addition to our ongoing studies of women at high risk for ovarian cancer due to their inherited genetic predisposition to the disease, we are working to discover serum biomarkers that can be used as a screening test for all women.

Meanwhile, my own research is far less groundbreaking but inquiring minds want to know: Does Eva Longoria even play golf? She knows how to pose with a driver but has she ever gripped the shaft? Ahem.

Well, my usual exhaustive research quick google has shown no evidence that Eva is an actual golf chick. If she is just using her image to support the cause, that’s great, but why golf? I’m sure The EIF or Gilda’s Club would have gladly accepted her support. Then again, millions of golfers have probably heard about this because of Eva and Callaway’s involvement. Awareness raised.

Perhaps her image with a golf club is enough to inspire some women to get out on the golf course, but I bet actual golfing would do more to that end. Of course that’s not her cause, I was just looking for the double whammy.

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