September is one of the busiest times of the year for many of the women I know as they juggle back-to-school and family activities along with work and other obligations. Even for those of us whose children are grown, this time of year always brings renewed purpose and a heightened sense of expectation.
At Susan G. Komen, we're busy gearing up for October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and while I'm buoyed by all the strides we've made in nearly three decades since the breast cancer movement began, I'm still concerned with how far we have yet to go in our fight. So I'm alarmed by numbers that show fewer than 50 percent of American women over 40 with health insurance get a mammogram annually. This is not something we can afford to ignore.
The reality is that in our too-busy lives, we women tend to put the needs of our family and loved ones ahead of our own. We manage to get our kids vaccinated, enrolled in school and taken to their appointments (and ballgames and music lessons). We see that the batteries on our smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detectors are changed, we file our tax returns, pay our bills and look after our aging parents, all while cooking dinner, helping with homework and baking cookies for the PTA fundraiser. And so for many of us that mammogram seems to fall further and further down the weekly to-do list. We're so busy helping others that we sometimes fail to look after ourselves.
Of course, it doesn't help that every couple of years there's a public "debate" about whether mammograms are effective, necessary or even useful in saving lives. We hear this and we start to think that it's ok to wait. But the truth is that mammograms save lives. Virtually every expert agrees that while it is not a perfect technology, mammography is still one of our best tools for early detection, and early detection, coupled with early and effective treatment, is the best offense against the disease. Screening mammography should be a personal priority, not something that falls to the "when I get around to it" list.
This October, Susan G. Komen is encouraging women to move beyond awareness of breast cancer and inviting them to take action by doing something unusual -- by putting themselves first. It's time to do more than think and talk; it's time to act by getting screened. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a perfect time to connect with the important women in your life and support one another in this mission. We challenge you to challenge each other to get screened -- to commit to getting a mammogram, to actually pick up the phone, book an appointment and get yourself to the clinic or lab. This link will help you get started: www.komen.org/getscreened.
To further support you in your commitment, we've developed an action plan that lays out a few simple steps you can take to make your breast health a priority. You probably already know these steps, but it takes more than just awareness -- it takes action. We want you to take that giant step from nodding in agreement and saying "I know, I'll get to it," to picking up the phone and making that call.
Are you practicing breast self-awareness? Do you know what is normal for you? These are the essentials of self-care.
2. Know your risk.
Discuss with your family and your physician what your individual risks are.
3. Educate yourself.
If you're diagnosed, have a candid discussion with your doctor about options for treatment.
4. Get support.
It's easy to fall off the breast-care wagon, so team with a friend or a relative or sign up for an online reminder.
5. Get screened.
If you are at average risk for breast cancer, Komen recommends annual mammograms starting at age 40 and continuing every year.
6. Make healthy lifestyle choices.
Maintain a healthy weight, get regular exercise, don't smoke and keep alcohol consumption to a minimum.
Follow Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nancygbrinker
Dr Sneh Khemka: Breast Cancer Screening - What Does the Future Hold?
Ana Forrest: Meditations From a Breast Cancer Survivor
Andrea Paine: Girls for the Cure
I've had this disease twice, 23 years apart and I have seen the difference that research has made in treatment options over the years but more still needs to be done. Cancer research and prevention should be a national priority. We need to find the causes of cancer, better treatments and hopefully one day, a cure. Screw saving the ta-ta's, SAVE MY LIFE.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com
Dude. First, I don't know a bunch of women high tailing it around town over 40 involved in the PTA, cooking, baking, pseudo-CPA's and still making sure the kids are getting their booster shots or whatever. Second, this has to be *the* most condescending and sexists thing I've like ever read in my life as it pertains to the modern era and a woman's day. Third, if the whole money grubbing Go-Pink crowd wants to make their point, instead of this stupid article, all they need to print, in pretty pink letters, of course, is, SELF CHECK YOUR BREASTS, and GET YOUR ANNUAL (if needed) MAMMO. Case closed.
We all know that radiation is a major contributor to cancer, yet you wish to expose a womans' breasts to radiation on an annual basis? That accumulative radiation alone exposes a woman to a high risk of cancer, mutation of of DNA. Let us not forget the scans at he airport, radiation when flying, cell phones, dental x-rays, who knows what other scans the individual has gone through in their life.
I would also encourage the Komen Foundation to carefully look at their sponsors (and message). Side by side with each chemical company is a pharmaceutical company. The chemical companies make the pesticides - another known cancer contributor. The pharmaceutical company makes the chemo drugs. It is a business and I feel the essence of the cause is now a business, sadly. Why is there no message sent to the chemical companies - even at government level? (Monsanto is still a major player too in the pesticide (RoundUp) market.)
Action must be taken at fundamental levels.
Rika Keck,
NY Integrated Health
ACN, Adv. MT, Holistic Women's Wellness Coach
So we should delay filing the tax return, let the batteries go dead on the smoke alarm and risk having the house burn down, let the children go without a hot meal for one day and/or neglect our very elderly parents while prioritising having a mammogram. We should also not bother our GP's with an ailment we already have so as to find time to be screened for a non contagious disease because women are having it too.
Women under 50 shouldn't be having mammograms and those over 50 should have one more than every three years. In fact I won't be having one at all.
Screening and early detection are useless.
Good luck with that.
Did you know that the "breast cancer gene"also causes ovarian cancer? Many women who know that they are at risk for breast cancer don't realize that they could also be at risk of ovarian cancer. It would be nice to hear more about this link, especially now that there are medical treatments that look to these genes.
Because, especially in September, it's not only about the breasts.
• Mammograms don’t prevent breast cancer: they detect breast cancers that have already developed.
• Mammograms don’t detect all breast cancers: according to the National Cancer Institute, “mammograms miss up to 20 percent of breast cancers that are present at the time of screening”.
• There are plenty of women diagnosed, by mammography, with early stage breast cancer who die of breast cancer.
And, one of the ugly truths of breast cancer is that over half of breast cancers have no known cause. Scientific evidence suggests that many are linked to exposure to environmental toxins. So, even if a woman follows Ms. Brinker’s call to exercise, never smoke, reduce alcohol consumption, and control her weight, she has may still get breast cancer.
We need actions that benefit all women, not just ourselves.
• Action that does not assume synthetic chemicals are innocent until proven guilty.
• Action that addresses the fact that too many women lack the health insurance of Ms. Brinker’s audience.
• Action that turns the tide on inequities that mean African American women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white counterparts.
• Action that produces more effective, less toxic treatments, including for metastatic disease.
-Karuna Jaggar, Executive Director, Breast Cancer Action
www.bcaction.org
The truth is that the lives saved come with a significant cost in over-diagnosis and over-treatment, with no overall reduction in all-cause mortality:
http://www.thennt.com/screening-mammography-for-reducing-deaths/
Women need to understand the trade-offs.