Results: October Is Pink Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease. October is the time when everyone from football players to TV hosts wear pink, brands release pink products, free mammograms are given to women, and everyone comes together with one goal: to find a cure to Breast Cancer. Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer, and affects about 1 in 8 women in the United States. My mother died exactly twenty years ago, from breast cancer. Have you been personally affected by breast cancer?

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams lost his mother, Sandra Hill at age 53, to breast cancer. Williams also lost his four aunts to the disease, all before the age of 50. He wanted to do his part to ensure that no other woman died from this disease, simply because they could not afford the cost of a mammogram. He started covering the cost of mammogram screening for women in 2015 through his nonprofit organization, The DeAngelo Williams Foundation. Since then, the foundation has covered the cost of over 500 mammograms at hospitals located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennessee; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Charlotte, North Carolina. Do you think what he is doing is wonderful?

At risk women, and men (yes, men do get breast cancer) should be getting a routine breast screening, whether it be a mammogram, ultra sound or some other diagnostic screening somewhere between one to every two years. Your doctor can help set up or guide you in this direction. Women ages 45 to 54 should have a mammogram each year and those 55 years and over should continue getting mammograms every 1 to 2 years. However, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends mammograms for women between the ages of 50 and 74 every two years. Do you get a routine mammogram, or some other type of breast cancer screening done?

Mammograms or other diagnostic tests are important because if caught early enough, breast cancer is treatable. Screening can find breast cancers when they are small, less likely to have spread and more likely to be treated successfully. Women ages 50 to 74 have a lower risk of dying from breast cancer when they are screened regularly with mammograms. If you have not had a mammogram (or alternative diagnostic test) done recently, will you now schedule one?