too many women (and men) every day and does not discriminate. It hits moms. It hits teens. It hits the chronically unhealthy. It hits the super healthy. It hits couch potatoes. It hits athletes. It hits blacks. It hits whites.

It seems like we've all been affected by breast cancer at some point in our lives, whether we have had it, or have had a family member or friend who's battled it. Everyone has a chance of getting breast cancer. Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women.

So why not do all we can to stop it?
There has to be a cure. It�s just waiting to be found. But money is needed for the research. And is it that hard to donate a little? Even five dollars can help. So you donated the money you were going to use to buy a movie ticket. What a tragedy. But surely you won't regret donating when in five years from now you or someone you love is diagnosed with this serious illness and the fancy scientists are that much closer to finding a cure.

My mom has always been the healthiest person I've known but then- GASP- She was diagnosed with breast cancer. Even her doctors said they couldn't figure out why she had been chosen by the cancer. She's been battling it for the past two years. I only saw her cry once, and that was when she was first diagnosed. After that she went back to her normal life, but with a little more fight. She started working out five days a week instead of three and started doing all the things she had been putting off, like going to see our family in Norway. It really didn't seem to take control of her. She had cancer. It didn't have her. The only thing was that she had to go to the hospital everyday and lost her hair. This summer she's walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer where she'll walk almost fourty miles (39.3) in two days. Since 1992 the Avon walk has been raising money so that men and women affected by breast cancer can get the medical care they need and so that the top research teams can be supported in their ongoing search for a cure.

If you'd like to put a donation in you can donate to my mom go here http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2008/SanFrancisco/1515475332?pg=personal&fr_id=1480&fr_id=1480&px=3992473. Since the Avon Walk is a charity it is tax deductible. That being said, why NOT donate? I mean, the money's coming back to you anyways. And who knows? Maybe the dollar you donate is the one that finds the cure and saves the life of your mom, your sister, your wife, your daughter, your brother or even you.


Till the cancer cures,
Jen


Some facts;

One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.

Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.

Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.

Seventy-seven percent of women with breast cancer are over 50.

Approximately 1400 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2000 and 400 of those men will die.

More than 1.7 million women who have had breast cancer are still alive in the United States.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.

Seventy-one percent of black women diagnosed with breast cancer experience a five-year survival rate, while eighty-six percent of white women experience five-year survival.

You are never too young to develop breast cancer! Breast Self-Exam should begin by the age of twenty.

Am very sad about your mom. Hope there'll be a cure.
Isn't breast cancer like, at the breasts? So what'll happen if they just cut off that huge chunk of meat? And I never knew men also get "hit" with it...

Does breast cancer hit Asians?
You mentioned the black and whites, the rich and lazy, but not the Asians.
WHY!! WHY WHY WHY!!
» Bullet on 2008-05-12 09:10:52

I have to say
that I think cancer as a whole should be treated, not just a certain kind. If we can stop the system from starting or stop it, then that's all we need. If we specialize, then we'll probably end up with a "half cure", like cutting off "that huge chunk of meat", (but not that extreme...you get my point).

My personal dis-favorite: lung cancer.

:-/ kudos for the post, though.
» middaymoon on 2008-05-12 09:15:23

As an aspiring cancer researcher...
...and the grandson of a cancer victim, I'm glad you're drawing attention to this. I'm sorry your mom has cancer, but I'm glad she's being super proactive about it and not just giving up, which is so easy to do.

Re:middaymoon's comment--

While the general biological mechanisms behind cancers are all pretty much the same, the pathologies of each cancer are different. It's easy to say that we should cure cancer--and we should work on that--but since every cancer is different, we are forced to "specialize" and focus on individual treatments for individual forms of cancer.
» ranor on 2008-05-13 12:37:02

Re:Bullet
What are you trying to imply when you say, "the black and whites, the rich and lazy" [sic]? Even if you didn't mean to, that sounds incredibly racist.

And of course Asians get breast cancer. EVERYONE and ANYONE can get EVERY and ANY kind of cancer. There just haven't been nearly as many studies with Asians as with the other two groups.

Sorry for using your blog to stand on a soapbox, D0WNB34T, but I couldn't let that one slide. I guess I'm just feeling a little sensitive today.
» ranor on 2008-05-13 12:41:56

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