Week 2

I have been researching breast cancer facts and have found a lot. Some of them are believable and others are not, because the numbers are so large. It's really sad that breast cancer affects so many people's lives and sometimes there isn't much that can be done. My mom's cousin was one of the unfortunate ones. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, receiving treatment, and fighting through it, she came to find that the cancer had spread throughout her entire body. She fought the cancer for years then finally it completely consumed her body and she passed away. The reason my mom was so strong during the time she had breast cancer was because she saw her cousin fight for her life for years and she wanted to be just as strong. People think that breast cancer is just simply breast cancer, but it can easily spread through the body. I'm pretty sure that I will have breast cancer, because of the family history and I have come to accept that. I am scared and don't know when it will come, but I want to be as strong as my mom and her cousin were.

Here are some of the facts that I found on websites: One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk. Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74. The first sign of breast cancer usually shows up on a woman's mammogram before it can be felt or any other symptoms are present. Oral contraceptives may cause a slight increase in breast cancer risk; however 10 years after discontinuing use of oral contraceptives the risk is the same as for women who never used the pill. The National Cancer Institute estimates that approxi- mately 2.5 million women with a history of breast cancer were alive in January 2006.3 Most of these indi- viduals were cancer-free, while others still had evidence of cancer and may have been undergoing treatment. In 2009, an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among women, as well as an estimated 62,280 additional cases of in situ breast cancer.

There are a lot of facts on breast cancer as you can see but there are still many more.

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/breastcancer/a/breastcancfacts.htm

http://www.acsevents.org/downloads/STT/F861009_final%209-08-09.pdf