We're Going Pink For October! (Breast Cancer Awareness)

Dear all

     I decided to play a role in raising awareness against breast cancer by changing the color of the blog, sharing some facts and by urging all of you to participate and save lives!

• Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women.
• Although breast cancer in men is rare, an estimated 2,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately 440 will die each year.
• On average, every 2 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and 1 woman will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes.
• Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women.
• Most breast cancer – about 85 percent – occurs in women who have no family history of breast cancer.
• Another top risk factor for breast cancer: Simply getting older – 79 percent of new cases and 88 percent of deaths occurred in women age 50 and older, according to the American Cancer Society. Just fewer than 11,000 invasive cases occurred in women younger than 40, and just under 49,000 in women under 50. In women ages 50 to 64, invasive breast cancer was even more prevalent with more than 84,000 cases. Women over age 65 accounted for more than 99,000 cases last year.
• Exercise reduces breast cancer risk for women of all body types – even lean women, according to Leslie Bernstein, Ph.D., director of cancer etiology at City of Hope.
• Exercise is beneficial to breast cancer survivors. A June study in Cancer found only a third of survivors meet recommended activity levels.

If you're wondering how you can participate, the least you can do is read about it. You may also want to share posts/tweets/links on your social accounts. You can also wear a pink ribbon badge, or if you're a practical human being, then you can simply donate.

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P.S. Something you should know about the writer of this blog (other than how ridiculously obsessed with Harry Potter she is) is that she will always stand to defend women's rights and gender equality and she will always put up a fight against nonsensical stereotypes and cliches. Unlike many people in our lovely society, I don't consider discussing a topic like breast cancer stigmatic and I can never comprehend why it's condemned. Millions of people have been affected by this disease; either directly or by losing one or more of their family, friends and loved ones. Sadly, it's not a laughing matter.

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References:

• National Breast Cancer Foundation
• City of Hope
• Susan G. Komen