Throughout October, National Breast Cancer Awareness month was dedicated to increasing awareness about the importance of early breast cancer detection. This is the month that families of breast cancer patients, survivors, individuals honoring women who lost their fight to breast cancer and those who have shown desire to find a cure for the disease unite together and showcase awareness of this disease.
About 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime. This statistic is the reason and the motivation for which women take place in annual walks of which the profits go towards reasearch breast cancer. It is the reason that more and more women are taking the opportunity to have a mammogram and receive early detection for breast cancer.
For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S. women besides skin cancer. More than 1 in 4 cancers in women are breast cancer.
Breast cancer awareness month was very successful and caused people to ask questions of those creating awareness.
One of the most popular types of awareness for breast cancer are the I Love Boobies bracelets that people all over are starting to purchase and wear. These bracelets simply advocate awareness for breast cancer; the funds from the bracelets do not support the fight for the cure.
Many people choose a walk or a run to create awareness and donate to breast cancer. For example, there was a walk in Sacramento on October 17th. Many walks also have activities after it is over such as dance groups that come to perform, speakers who have survived breast cancer and a plethora of music and food. Since they are fun, many choose runs over simply donating money.
PE teacher Cheryl Miller-Day participated in the walk, Making Strides, on October 17th in Sacramento.
“This was my first time doing a walk and I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of neat people. The best about the walk was seeing that many people out there, supporting breast cancer,” Miller-Day commented.
“I have done a breast cancer walk every year the past few years. I want to help people that have to go through breast cancer,” stated senior Holly Hopkins. “During the walk, it is really fun because everyone is excited about walking for a great cause. Sometimes at the end of the walk they have a presentation and that can be emotional.”
Breast cancer awareness has made its presence known on facebook as well as other social netwoks. This October, statuses were updated with the sentence “I like it…” referring to the location of where they put their purse.
“I saw someone’s status and thought it was weird but when I scrolled down I realized what it was for. I think it was an easy and fun way to let people know about breast cancer because it catches your attention,” commented senior Alyssa Morford.
The reason this type of awareness is so effective is because it sparks curiousity, which in turn, helped spread knowledge through a popular social network website.
One new type of breast cancer awareness that is not as well-known is pink tinsel tied on people’s hair. At the Sacco Salon, in Newcastle, there was a minimum donation fee of $10. The pink tinsel was a way to show breast cancer awareness in a fashionable and fun way. Just like the facebook status update, the pink tinsel caused people to ask questions, giving people an opportunity to share breast cancer awareness.
“Getting the tinsel put in was a fun way to raise awareness for breast cancer. I really wanted to help and I donated money to the cause when I got the tinsel put in. A lot of people asked me about it and about five other people went to go get it done too,” explained senior Emily Jones.
“I saw someone with the pink tinsel and asked them about it. After hearing what it was about, I went to get it done. A lot of people asked me about it and I knew that I was supporting a great cause,” commented Hopkins.
Breast cancer awareness month is dedicated to providing awareness for women to receive mammograms on a regular basis, to honor those who have lost their battle to breast cancer, inform more people about the disease and raise funds for the cure. Over the years, breast cancer awareness month has been extremely successful. Funds have been rasied for women to receive mammograms and for scientists to research the cure.
Everyone can do something to provide awareness for breast cancer and that’s what breast cancer awareness month was all about. It provided easy, simple ways for people to spread awareness and become more educated about this unfortunate disease.