Since 1985, October has been designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is an entire month dedicated to increasing awareness and educating the public of the causes and treatments of breast cancer. While the organization continues the mission to educate year round, they take one month of the year to pour extra effort into the campaign.
If you pay close attention, you can find pink ribbons throughout the community. My daughters’ soccer team not only has a pink ribbon on their regular uniform, they have also invested in a completely pink uniform to signify the club’s support of education and awareness on breast cancer. If you watch football on Sundays, the NFL has joined the campaigned. You will see different teams with some sort of pink accent, whether it be gloves, shoes, or towels.
Cancer is when cells in the body become abnormal and begin to divide without control or order. Breast cancer is when this process occurs in the breast tissue of both women and men. Cells dividing without order can cause excess tissue which forms a mass called a tumor. While most tumors are not cancerous, many are. The invasion of these malignant tumors can cause additional damage to other tissue and organs.
In 2009, there was an approximate 192,370 cases of breast cancer diagnosed. That number includes 1,910 men. In the same year there were 40,610 deaths including 440 men. There are approximately 2.5 million survivors. It is the second most common type of cancer in women (skin cancer is first) and the second leading cause of cancer related deaths to women (lung cancer is first). With such a wide spread disease, it is difficult to find anyone who has not been effected or experienced breast cancer in some way, either with a relative, spouse or friend.
It would be difficult to measure the total impact of the various campaigns supporting breast cancer awareness, it is true that we have seen a significant decrease is the number of incidents (2% decline) and death (2% decline) in the last ten to fifteen years.
What do you think about having a month dedicated to breast cancer awareness? Are there other diseases which could benefit from starting similar campaigns? If so, what disease and why?
Luke- First as usual. I think that it is a great idea to have a month dedicated to breast cancer awareness. But i think that it might be going overboard with how much people advertise for it. Because i swear every where i look on a poster, food, clothing, NFL receivers play with pink gloves etc... it has the little breast cancer symbol. Which isn't bad but i think that i get the picture. I think that breast cancer can happen to both sex but mainly female. So i believe prostate cancer should be advertised men. I believe this because if women get to be advertised for their disease men should also get the same benefits.
ReplyDeleteAngie- I think that it's nice how there's a month dedicated to breast cancer. Like Luke said, there is a lot of advertising for it but I think it's a good thing. Women AND men can get breast cancer. Some people laugh about it but it's really serious and very sad. I think there should be more things like these about diseases. It really gets people aware about it. A disease that I really want to be known is spinocerebellar ataxia. Google about it. It's not a very well known disease, but I take it really seriously because my great aunt died of it. I'm very glad that breast cancer is very well known though now because of so many people contributing for all the marathons and advertising about it.
ReplyDeletekaed- YEAH BABY FIRST TIME BEING THE 3RD PERSON! YEAH BUDDY! ok lets get serious. Im glad that there is a month that is dedicated to breast cancer. Personally think we should dedicate the top 12 diseases for just 12 months of the year! i think the people who have the other diseases other than breast cancer should be as important as the poeple who have breast cancer. And we should have marathons and advertise about it.
ReplyDeletegabby-i think that it is great to have a breast cancer awareness month.i think it is great for everyone, people have personally been effected or people that need to be aware of breast. the statistics for amazing, in both how many people are actually diagnosed with breast cancer and how many people lived. i cannot think of a disease and is campaigned as much as breast cancer with the colors and things like that, i think that kaed has a great idea to take the top 12 diseases and make each month awareness to them, but the only problem with that is people make get tired and bored with something each month.
ReplyDeletemarya- i think it's really nice that we have breast cancer awarness. people advertise it A LOT though. football players wearing pink gloves, boobies bracelets, pink ribbons, etc. but i think that we should advertise other cancers too. breast cancer can happen to men and women. imagine if you were a guy and you got breast cancer. i bet that would be super embarrassing. i think that prostate cancer is a big one that we should start to focus on too. people are dying from other things besides breast cancer.
ReplyDeleteAriana-I think it is very good to have a whole month dedicated to breast cancer awareness. It shows how important and serious it really is, but I think other diseases, especially ones that are preventable, should be advertised. This would save a lot of people from possibly getting that disease, and I also think that there should be the top 12 diseases like kaed and gabby said. But I honestly think any serious disease is worth advertising, especially any types of cancer.
ReplyDeleteAnn- i think its great that they have a whole month dedicated to breast cancer awareness, i think before they started this campaign many more people were diagnosed with cancer.If they had a month for every disease we wouldn't have enough months and the campaign would kind of lose its effect.
ReplyDeleteMadison- My dad is an oncologist, so I know a lot about cancer stuff. We used to walk all of the walks and one of our family friends back in Oklahoma helped come up with the pink bagel, which they only have during October. I think that advertising this is a good thing, but most people survive now because of all of this awareness and getting diagnosed earlier. I think that the reason that is so commonly advertised is because it is so common. Many other months are designated to other things, so I don't think that there is a need for more diseases to have a month dedicated to them because there are way to many. Maybe we could have a month dedicated to all of the cancer survivors.
ReplyDeleteJACK- P.S. GABBY YOU RUINED ME AND LUKE'S BABY PICTURE!!! BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH IS A HUGE TIME FOR OUR COUNTRY. IT HELPS RAISE MONEY FOR MORE TREATMENT OF BREAST CANCER, AND IT MAKES EVERYONE AWARE OF HOW FATAL THIS TERRIBLE DISEASE CAN BE AND WHAT AFFECT IT CAN HAVE ON OUR COUNTRY. MY AUNT IS STRUGGLING WITH BREAST CANCER AND IT HAS BEEN A REAL BATTLE. I THINK THAT BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH IS A HUGEEEEEEEE EVENT FOR OUR COUNTRY.
ReplyDeleteCooper- Women that have breast cancer are fighting everyday to beat their cancer not only is it about woman that have its, about creating awareness. Any disease that can be prevented by screening for it, people that have a family history should be screened. Lung Cancer because a lot of people smoke.
ReplyDeletejosu- I think that having a month set aside for breast cancer is a very good idea because many women die each year from breast cancer. Breast cancer might be a little to big on advertising, but it is all for a good cause. I think that diabetes is a disease that could benefit with its own month. Many people also die from diabetes. The cure for diabetes, especially type 1, is many years away.
ReplyDeleteHalle- I think having a month dedicated to breast cancer is great. And many people are active in it too. Sports teams where pink, we have the race for the cure, and a lot of products in the grocery store send money for breast cancer. I think there are a lot of diseases would benefit from it. It depends on if someone wants to start something for it. Usually people start awareness for cancers or something because they can relate to it. A lot of people can relate to having or knowing someone with breast cancer so they pay attention to it. I think any diseases that a MYRIAD (vocab word) or people have can raise awareness for it.
ReplyDeleteNerea-Having a month thats focusies alot on breast cancer is awesome. Alot of people support breast cancer..for example my soccer club supports Breast Cancer by having the symbol on our jourseys and also we have a specialall pink uniform dedicaded for Breast Cancer. I think we could start supporting other diseases we just need to find one that alot of people know about
ReplyDeleteAbby- I think having a whole month dedicated to breast cancer is really great. The pink ribbons, the race for the cure, and all the advertising really raise awareness for breast cancer. Breast cancer really gets a lot of attention from all of this. I think that we should have a disease dedicated for every month. That would raise awareness for that disease and maybe help find a cure for it. For example we could have a diabetes month that could have a race for the cure walk, have diabetes ribbons everywhere, and they could advertise just like breast cancer!
ReplyDeleteDanielle- I think having a month dedicated to breast cancer is a great thing! There are so many ways you can support it like the race for the cure and many others things that you see with the pink ribbon. Many people and stores are donating money to help fight breast cancer. I'm sure there are many other diseases out there that need dedication to. I really think every type of cancer should really start a campaign because many people die from all sorts of cancer. But i think they are supporting breast cancer most because there is no cure for it and many many women die from it.
ReplyDeleteSophia- I think it's great that there is a whole month dedicated to breast cancer. It's really sad that so many people have had this cancer. I think that pancreatic cancer should have a month dedicated to it. The color is purple so that could play into a lot of things. Pancreatic cancer needs recognition because it is an incurable disease. It would be great to raise money for it so doctors can try to find a cure. My friend started a website: pancansuperhero.org after she found out her aunt had it. It's a really informative website. You should check it out.
ReplyDeletePhillip-I think Breast Cancer Awareness Month is cool, but not too important. A more important cancer would be lung cancer. It killed more than THREE TIMES as many people in 2008(1.4 million vs. 460,000). I think if we do have any type of cancer awareness month it should be for lung cancer.
ReplyDeleteIsabelle- I think it's great that we have a month dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness. This shows the importance of it all and teaches people about the cancer and what it can do. Alot of diseases can benefit from starting their own campaigns because it will teach people the importance of those diseases and what it can do to you and your body. We have put such an emphasis on Breast Cancer that I think some of the other diseases and cancers should come up with creative ways to involve the community and inform them. These could be skin cancer, lung cancer, or any type of cancer or disease because they are all equally important.
ReplyDeleteKendall- Having a month dedicated to breast cancer is great! It makes everyone aware that it is a big issue that many Americans are dealing with. Advertising it by putting up posters and putting the famous breast cancer ribbon on clothing is a great way to remind everyone of how serious breast cancer really is! Of course there are many diseases in the world that lots of people haven't even heard of, so dedicating a month to 12 of them doesn't really make sense. Maybe instead we could just have a month dedicated to all cancers, making the public more aware of not just breast cancer, but all types of cancer.
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ReplyDeleteAtticus- I think that having a month dedicated to cancer is great but I think that it is getting a little crazy now it seems everything is pink for brest cancer. I think that people should be more aware of other cancers and not just cancer i mean I bet the people who have brest cancer are really happy that the world is doing this but how do the people with other cancers feal??? gelous and sad. I think that people need to be aware about the other cancers out there.
ReplyDeleteRyan- I think its a great idea and i think people need ot be aware about breast cancer and to pray for those people. Ya i thunk that we could but it might be going way over the top in some areas and maybe not such a good idea. i also think that maybe many people want to have awareness week for diabetes and things like that and i kind of agree with that but that is up to our government. i think it is good that we have breast cancer awareness week because it gives us a chance to support family members or friends that have cancer.
ReplyDeletePeter- I think it is a good idea to dedicate a month to breast cancer. It is also great that there are jogs and other things. (Namely: Green Bay's gloves.) I think that this practice would also be great for other cancers, such as pancreatic cancer (R.I.P. Steve Jobs). It is important to spread the news about people who have serious deseases and the money that is made from the jogs and such can go to research.
ReplyDeleteAlly- I think have one month of the year set aside to support breast cancer is really cool. A tone of women and men die every year because of breast cancer. I think it would be a good idea to advertise for other serious cancers too. Its important to support all people with all kinds of cancer, not only breast cancer.
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ReplyDeleteBrooke~I think it is great that we have a month to support breast cancer! My grandma actually survived breast cancer. I think if we have a month for breast cancer, we should also have a month dedicated to Lukemia, which has killed many people. Either lukemia, or just like other types of cancer.
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