Pink ribbons are part of the logo for breast cancer awareness, and October is set aside each year to take awareness to even greater heights.
Despite significant strides in the fight against breast cancer, the disease continues to takes its toll. Some don’t live to tell their stories. Many others do, and the number thankfully is growing.
They tell their stories of survival at breast cancer awareness functions, and they tell them to friends, family and friends of friends who have been touched by the dreaded diagnosis.
And their story is a powerful one that needs telling. Early detection of breast cancer saves lives. Period.
That is why it is so important to have annual mammograms and to conduct regular, self examinations. Early detection can be the difference between a life saved and a life lost.
Because awareness has risen, breast cancer no longer has to be a death sentence. After two decades of increases in death from breast cancer, the toll has seen a 2 percent annual drop over the past decade.
That is encouraging news, but more important, it’s encouraging practices by women at risk of contracting breast cancer. And early detection is at the center of it.
We support Breast Cancer Awareness Month and urge women to take advantage of screenings available. It is our hope that those survival stories keep mounting.
