It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Pink everywhere!

Tatas!

Save the tatas!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to increase the awareness of the disease and raise money to help end it.

However, all of us are aware of breast cancer. Breast cancer is a thing. We know it. One in eight women develop breast cancer at some point in life. We know. We know those women. They are friends, coworkers, family members. They are my mom.

Breast cancer is one of those things we all know about but don’t care about until it affects us personally. Once it touches close to home it makes us realize how it can affect anyone.

Breast cancer awareness month is about awareness but it’s really about action.

Don’t just be aware that breast cancer exists, take action! Donate, help, support, examine yourself, visit the doctor, do something.

Good Breast Cancer News

Many people forget to take the steps necessary to detect the disease in early stages which is when it’s so, so crucial. When breast cancer is detected early, and is in the localized stage, the 5-year relative survival rate is 100%. It’s amazing what medicine has done and how far we’ve come. If you catch breast cancer early, you have really, really good odds.

My mom is one of those lucky ladies who caught it early and after treatment is cancer free. Though  a breast cancer diagnosis is really scary, it is something you can defeat when it is detected early.

That is why it is sooooo important to have an early detection plan. Do self breast exams. Go to the doctor for an annual physical and examination.

Learn more about early detection and what you can do to find and stop breast cancer early.

More Good Breast Cancer News

While there is nothing you can do to 100% prevent cancer of any kind, there are a lot of lifestyle behaviors you can adopt to help your chances.

There are some risk factors for breast cancer that you are fully in control of and and can change like lack of exercise, poor diet, being obese, drinking alcohol and more.

Taking action means doing things to lower your risk of breast cancer. For instance, exercise boosts your immune system and helps keep weight in check and lowers the risk of breast cancer. For just 30 minutes a day you can drop the risk you’ll develop breast cancer. This is one of the many reasons I make myself be active every day.

Learn more about Breast Cancer Awareness month here and please take action. Donate to a related organization, do a self exam, talk to friends and family about doing the same.