October Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Unless you have been living under a rock you should already know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It just amazes me how much effort is put into raising awareness for Breast Cancer it seems like everyone gets involved. If you had a chance to catch any NFL games this past weekend you might have noticed many players wearing pink shoes, pink gloves, arms bands etc to show their support for breast cancer. They even have the pink ribbons on their helmets to honor Breast Cancer awareness month.

Breast Cancer really hits home for me, a good friend of my family was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in her 30's she is now a proud survivor and it has inspired me to take a more active role in Breast Cancer awareness. For many years my family has ran in The Race For The Cure and last year I participated in the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 day walk here in Metro Detroit. 60 miles over a three day period. Sure some people think walking is no big deal but let me tell you I would have much rather ran at times, especailly since the route we walked was extremely hilly! Sure the first few miles are no problem but after about mile 9 you can really feel it and by the end of the day my knees would just buckle in! Not only is this a physically challenging walk each and every participant was required to raise $2200 in order to walk. But the experience you encounter is like nothing else! You walk with thousands of people some people just want to join in on the fight, some are walking to honor a friend or loved one, some are survivors themselves. At the end of the 3 days a ceremony is held and a "variety" of survivors and loved ones who walked to honor them take the stage. It was amazing to see the survivors up there some were older women, some middle aged and one woman was was about 28 years old, there was even a man up there as well. Many people don't realize that Breast Cancer can effect men too. If you ever have a chance to participate in the 3 day walk I would strongly recommend it! Check out some of the pictures of my friend Stephanie and me from the walk.

Did you know:

• Breast Cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Breast Cancer is only second to lung cancer in deaths among women in the US
  
• About 1.3 million women are diagnosed each year. 
• 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer in their lifetime
• About 465,000 die from the disease each year. ( At this rate 11.6 million women will dies from breast Cancer during the next 25 years)
• Somewhere in the world a women dies from breast cancer every 68 seconds
• An estimated 40,170 women and 440 men will die from Breast Cancer in the US in 2009
• There are about 2.5 Million Breast Cancer survivors alive in the US today, the largest group of cancer survivors in the country. 

For more information check out the Susan G. Komen Foundation website 

Also check out the Breast Cancer site. Each time you click on the button on their site a  free mammogram is donated to someone in need. This is totally free to you and you can click once a day!

Get involved today!! And look out for more Breast Cancer stories and info through out the month of October!!