News

Editorial: Make a difference

By Scott Wagar

10/08/2013

The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is a very serious disease and needs the attention of our country.  To understand how serious breast cancer is, the National Breast Cancer Foundation has some statistics individuals should know:

•  One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime
•  Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women
•  Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women
•  Each year it is estimated that over 220,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die.
•  Although breast cancer in men is rare, an estimated 2,150 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately 410 will die each year.  

And, we cannot forget the recurrence of breast cancer. According to MedicineNet.com, breast cancer can recur at any time, especially during the first three to five years after first being diagnosed and treated. The cancer can come back as a “local” recurrence in the treated site on the breast or near the mastectomy scar or as a “distant” recurrence elsewhere in the body, specifically in the lymph nodes, bones, liver or lungs.

These are difficult facts and statistics to read, but the National Breast Cancer Foundation has stated there is some great news on the research front with breast cancer, which is in recent years there has been a decline in breast cancer rates among women 50 and older.

Unfortunately, even with this information, breast cancer for the most part can touch any age and still occurs way too often in our country.

To me, the answer in curing breast cancer is to fund research in this field because it will be through breast cancer research that a cure will be found and individuals will never have to live through the experience of breast cancer ever again.

With this, I encourage individuals this Pink Month (and every month if you can) to donate money to a breast cancer research organizations so that researchers can eradicate this terrible disease in our country and throughout the world.

Do it for a loved one with breast cancer, for a friend or colleague, or, yourself, because one never knows when breast cancer might happen.

So, take the time today to save a life from breast cancer and make it possible to remove the words “breast cancer” from our lives for good. Donate now. Please.