Breast
cancer awareness promoted
Cancer:
Pink October, sponsored by the Women's Resource
Center and the Health Resource Center, aims
to increase awareness and the accessibility
of information about breast cancer.
By
Michelle Zenarosa
Daily Forty-Niner
"My
best friend's mom and my mom's two best
friends had breast cancer, so I know a lot
people who have had it and have gone to
fundraisers and parties for it," said
Emily Pickett, a freshman dance major at
Cal State Long Beach. "That's why I
know how to examine my breast to check for
the disease."
Pickett
and others like her have increasingly become
more aware of breast cancer due to information
gathered from other people. Being such a
prevalent issue in today's society, most
people know at least one other person who
has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
In
2003, an estimated 267,000 new cases of
breast cancer will be diagnosed among women,
and 39,800 women are expected to die from
it, according to research conducted by the
American Cancer Society.
In
concurrence with breast cancer awareness
month, Pink October is sponsored by the
Women's Resource Center and the Health Resource
Center, and supported by the A.S.I. Secretary
of Women's Affairs and the American Cancer
Society. Pink October is a series of activities
held on the Cal State Long Beach campus
that are dedicated to raising awareness
and making information available about breast
cancer.
"We
are doing Pink October to increase your
basic idea and knowledge of breast cancer,"
said Dr. Ming-Yu Cheng, resource center
coordinator. "What we can do here on
campus is to learn how to do breast self-examination
every month so that if there are breast
abnormalities found, you are able to go
to the doctor earlier."
Early
detection of breast cancer can give a woman
the best chance for survival. If cancer
has not spread, studies show that a woman
has a 97 percent five-year survival rate
as opposed to 76 percent if it has spread
to nearby organs and 21 percent if it has
spread throughout the body.
"Everyone
that talks on the issue really stresses
the importance of self-examinations and
they do that even though they feel that
the majority of women do not get breast
cancer at 16 or even at 20. Women are being
diagnosed at much younger ages like at 30
or even 27," said Lynne Cohen, assistant
director at the women's center.
The
Pink October project included a workshop
that talked about risk factors, prevention
and detection, a panel discussion that included
hearing stories from breast cancer survivors
and activists, a group of informational
pink tables placed around campus that included
materials, fliers and breast cancer "Fund
the Fight. Find a Cure" stamps, and
a campaign to encourage students to wear
a pink ribbon all month long to "let
people know that he or she is aware and
working to change the statistics about women
(and men) and breast cancer."
Although
it is still not clear what causes breast
cancer, researchers have found some factors
that increase the risk of breast cancer
in women: age, alcohol consumption, recent
oral contraceptive uses, like birth control
pills, postmenopausal obesity, Jewish heritage,
recent and long-term use of hormone-replacement
therapy and never breast feeding a child.
Cancer
society studies show a new treatment called
Letrozole that has been known to cut breast
cancer in half. Although it is not a prevention
of the disease, Letrozole can be taken as
somewhat of a peace of mind for breast cancer
survivors who are afraid of long-term re-occurrence.
An estimated 100,000 women with breast cancer
in North America will be helped annually
due to the new medicine and perhaps a million
worldwide.
Breast
cancer is the most common cancer among women
and studies show one in 2,152 of 20 year-old
women will develop breast cancer in the
next 10 years.
"It's
not just about you," Cohen said. "You
have additional information that you can
talk with your mother, your sister, your
best friend or your boyfriend so that people
become more aware. The more you know, the
safer we and all the people we love are
because you have information you can share
and you know places to go, what they should
be looking for and how to get information."
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