Entry bubble National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By: Ginger | October 02, 2009 | Category: Health

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I have several friends whose mothers have had breast cancer. My friends witnessed their mothers go through surgeries and cancer treatment therapies, so they are familiar with the disease. Because a woman's risk of breast cancer is higher if her mother, sister, or daughter had breast cancer, my friends pay special attention to their own breast health.

Woman getting a mammogramEarly detection with regular mammograms and manual breast self-examinations, can increase survival rates. Women who do not have a family history of breast cancer should also have a mammogram and clinical breast examination by a health care provider every year. Treatments can be most successful and chances of survival are best when breast cancer is found at the earliest opportunity.

I have a little ritual I perform when I go to get my mammogram. I ask the technician, on a scale of 1 to 10, what kind of day she is having. If she responds with a 6 or lower, I joke with her that she needs to go have a strawberry margarita before putting me in the pincher (not the technical name for the thing, but you know what I'm talking about). If she responds with a 9 or 10, I joke with her that I am going to have to reschedule because she is a little too happy and might be a little overzealous in her job. It might sound dumb, but this little ice breaker helps me relax and it makes the experience... I won't say pleasant, how about, not so bad?

There are many resources out there that are useful, here are just a few that I was able to locate:

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Entry bubble Coming Together to Fight Breast Cancer

By: Ginger | June 05, 2009 | Category: Health

participants walking in the Tomorrow the streets of Washington, DC will be filled with a sea of people participating in the first ever Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure. Every year people gather together to show their support by walking or running to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. This year, “The Race” has gone global. Breast cancer knows no borders. It doesn't discriminate. It affects people in all countries and all ethnic groups.

Many of the people participating in this event are currently battling or have survived breast cancer. Many who participate will have loved ones currently fighting for their lives or have loved ones they have lost to this horrific disease.

Among the crowd will be mothers who have/had breast cancer participating in the hopes of helping to find a cure, so that their daughters may never know what it is like to lose a breast(s); experience hair loss and nausea of chemotherapy; or to know the intense fear upon hearing four simple words, “You have breast cancer.”

Among the crowd there will be young women who watched their mothers fight breast cancer. They know that they too have an increased risk of some day developing it. In the back of their minds they live with the troubling knowledge that they may also have to battle this disease one day.

When we think of breast cancer, we usually think of it as a woman's disease, but the reality is that anyone can get breast cancer. I worked for someone who lost a brother to breast cancer. Recently there was a national news story of a 10-year old girl diagnosed with breast cancer. Here is a list of resources to help educate and raise awareness:

I know the world is a complicated place. This will sound totally “hippie” of me, but for one day let's come together globally. Instead of fighting each other, let's band together to fight one of the real enemies among us, breast cancer. If we can do work together for one day, maybe we can try for 2 days, then 3, then 4. You get my drift.

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