Sunday, October 11, 2009

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I was wondering what to put in my first blog. I haven't mastered facebook and I’m tackling something else. But the Carolina Panthers have on pink shoes. How cool is that? My husband and I made our contribution earlier in the month and I decided to make my first blog about something that’s really important.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and we need to take the time to make a difference. It doesn’t take but just a little bit from everybody. No. I don’t have and never have had breast cancer, but my mother-in-law at age 70, my aunt at age 55, and a friend at age 46 all had breast cancer and I’m happy to say that they’re all cancer free. As you can see, breast cancer doesn’t discriminate against age and it doesn’t discriminate against gender. My uncle had breast cancer. I’d say it’s an equal opportunity disease.

We all know somebody who has or has had breast cancer and if you personally don’t you’re just not old enough yet.

So if you feel it in your heart to make a small donation, you can do so at http://www.breastcancersociety.org/ or
http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/ or
http://ww5.komen.org/ or
http://www.abcf.org/

It only takes a second. I swear.
Kitty

4 comments:

  1. Great post for a great cause! Thanks Kitty! As a mammographer, writer, and breast cancer survivor, I thank you for your support and would just like to remind all women 40 years and over to have a mammogram EVERY YEAR! It doesn't matter if you don't have a family history of breast cancer. 70% of all new breast cancers are found in women with no family history. I did not have a family history. I did not have a lump or a single symptom. I was 47 years old and my cancer was found on a screening mammogram. It was an aggressive, invasive carcinoma and the mammogram picked it up early enough that it was curable. Had I waited to have a mammogram AFTER I had found a lump, the cancer would have been too far advanced and it would have been too late. As close as the lesion was to my chest wall, I'm sure waiting would have meant certain death from a disease that IS curable 90% of the time IF! it is caught early enough. So, please ladies, if you're over 40, and haven't had one in the past 12 months, schedule your mammogram!

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  2. Kitty,

    As a breast cancer survivor, I say THANK YOU to you and everyone else who lets people know about this life-altering disease.

    I had no family history so it was a huge shock to me until I found out that 1 in 8 women will get some form of it in their lifetime.

    Thanks much!


    Pam

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  3. Hi, Kitty,

    Great blog title and great initial post. I suspect that nearly all of us have someone who has been impacted by breast cancer. My step-mom had a mastectomy a few years ago, at the age of 76. It's true, this is an issue that affects us all.

    Good luck with the blog!

    Warmly,
    Lisabet

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  4. When I was 27 and found a lump in my left breast while breast feeding my first baby, I was told by a doctor that I had to have both breasts removed.
    I declined.
    I asked for a second opinion. A
    nd what do you know? I had fibrosis, was told to lay off caffeine and colas and go about my life. I did. For many years. Even went back to caffeine. (It was that or be brain dead.) And I am among the living.
    Research. Technology. Innovation. All keep us moving toward ways to save women from this horrible disease.
    Keep up the blog!

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