GeekTyrant Is Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
GeekTyrant's logo is pink today to support breast cancer awareness month.
Earlier this year my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thanks to a friend, she went in for a check up months before her next scheduled appointment, and doctors caught it early enough to stop it. In July she went in for a Mastectomy, and is still going through the recovery process from that. But doctors were able to get it all, and now she is cancer free.
It was a very scary experience for her and for the rest of us, but I am so grateful that she got checked out when she did, because if she would have waited any longer it would have spread, and things could have been much worse.
Please, if you aren't sure if something is wrong, be safe and get checked. If you have a friend that is talking about getting a mammogram, but they aren't sure about going in, give them a little push to go. You could save your life or the life of a friend.
To support breast cancer research and awareness programs, you can donate to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation by clicking here.
Here are some breast cancer statistics:
- About 1 in 8 U.S. women (just under 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
- In 2013, an estimated 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 64,640 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
- About 2,240 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2013. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.
- About 39,620 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2013 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1989 — with larger decreases in women under 50. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
- For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
- Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Just under 30% of cancers in women are breast cancers.
- In 2013, there were more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
- A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
- About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.