In a few days it will be October, a month we associate with changing leaves, football games, and Halloween. It's also National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and with pink ribbon season almost upon us we thought we'd dedicate this spotlight to taking a look at breast cancer.

Four women--Maria, Cara, Elise, and Sara--agreed to share stories of their friends and family for this article. Between them they knew thirteen women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, ranging in age from their late 30's to their 80's. It sounds like a huge number of diagnoses, but perhaps it makes sense when you consider that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, and by far the highest risk factor for breast cancer is if you've had a relative who was also diagnosed. That means that breast cancer can become a lingering presence in the lives of families where it strikes person after person. Like Maria's family-where her aunt, cousin, and cousin's daughter were all diagnosed-or Cara's family, where her grandmother and three of her grandmother's four sisters all had the disease.

Breast cancer is currently the second leading cause of death for women in the US. It's estimated that each year over 220,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 40,000 will die. Men also contract breast cancer, but at about 1% the rate that women do, making diagnosed male cases rare, and male breast cancer deaths rarer still. That being said, because breast cancer is so rare in men it is frequently not diagnosed until a much later stage. 

Elise's sister-in-law was diagnosed when she went in to the doctor to have a rash on her chest examined. Sara's sister found a lump herself, and went in for an MRI and subsequent biopsy. These are common stories, because-like many cancers-breast cancer can have very minor symptoms. It's one of the reasons why doctors encourage regular self exams for women. The person best able to tell if something has changed in your body is you, provided that you're paying attention.

Unfortunately, as Elise pointed out, even when women are careful and have regular check-ups something can go unnoticed. While there are different types of breast cancer-and some are undeniably easier to treat-no matter the type they all have a greater survival rate the sooner they are diagnosed and treated. Early detection and prompt treatment was a theme repeated by all four women.  

For all its deadly impact on women, both Sara and Maria pointed out that breast cancer is survivable. Too many times, as Maria said, we hear the word cancer and automatically think it's a death sentence. The truth is that the survival rates for breast cancer are very high; at stage I the five-year survival rate is 100%.  

Great strides have been made in the treatment available for breast cancer. Today women can have simple lumpectomies where before they had mastectomies. They can often use targeted therapies that directly affect their cancer, rather than traditional chemotherapy with its more severe side effects. The past ten years of research and development have offered hope to the roughly quarter of a million women who are diagnosed every year.

We sing for our mothers and sisters, our fathers and brothers. We sing for our daughters and wives, our sons and our husbands. We sing with hope in our hearts, knowing that every day brings us closer to a cure.

In This Issue

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