October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Encourage Ladies in Your Life to Get an Exam

October is the month to think pink. Yes, it's the season of jack-o- lanterns and fall foliage but it's also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is a disease that hits home hard for most people. Nearly everybody will at some point in their life know someone who has come face-to-face with breast cancer: a mother, grandmother, sister, wife, daughter, friend or self. Statistically, one in eight women will have to fight the disease at some some point in their lives. This is the month to encourage the women in your life to seek a mammogram or do a breast self-examination, it may save their lives.

According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., women should do a monthly self-breast exam and search for any abnormalities, which includes: changes in size, lumps and dents. If something isn't right they should seek a doctor immediately. Women who have a history of breast cancer in their family should take extra precautions: "Have a baseline mammogram at least five years before the age of breast cancer onset in any close relatives, or starting at age 35. See your physician at any sign of unusual symptoms." Others at a high risk of developing breast cancer are heavy drinkers and women who been on birth control at least 10 years before the age of 35. The earlier breast cancer can be detected, the less likely the person is to die.

Men are also encouraged to give themselves breast exams. Most men are unaware that males can get breast cancer. A small percentage of men die from breast cancer ever year. Susan G. Komen for a Cure, states that Caucasian women are the ones most likely to develop breast cancer; however, it's African-American women that are most likely to die from the disease. Susan G. Komen for a Cure is the largest breast cancer charity organization in the world. Komen in 1980, at the age of 36, died of breast cancer. Her younger sister, Nancy Goodwin Brinker, started the organization in Susan's honor and to help find a cure for breast cancer.

This is the month to remember those that have passed away from breast cancer, support those who are in the now fighting it and celebrate those who have won the battle.