Treasure Your Chest

Until recently, I was lucky enough to never really exposed to cancer in my life. To me, cancer was something grandfathers had - not younger women. But now one of my close friends is battling a rare type of cancer that we never saw coming, and I'm wondering how I was so naive about it before. She's had to close her business to battle it, not to mention how the financial side is crippling. During a time when she should be focusing on kicking cancer's a**, she has to fight with the insurance company too. The chemotherapy is making her so sick that she's spending evenings in the emergency room. She's undergone surgeries, she's losing weight, and she can't stop throwing up. She can't even leave the house for fear that someone with a cold will infect her already weakened immune system.

Cancer is unpredictable, and it can feel impossibly hard to fight. When it sneaks up on your life, it can make you feel truly helpless, but when it comes to cancer, knowledge really is power. It's on us to educate ourselves. We don't want the people we love dealing with this alone. We don't want anyone dealing with this alone.

All younger women have heard that your risk for breast cancer (or cancer of any type) is lower if you exercise and refrain from smoking, but there are a few things about breast cancer that may come as a surprise. According to the American Cancer Society:

• White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than are African-American women. HOWEVER
• African-American women are more likely to die of this cancer. 
• Many studies have looked for a link between certain diet and breast cancer risk, but so far the results have been conflicting. Some studies have indicated that diet may play a role, while others found no evidence that diet influences breast cancer risk. 
• Studies have found that women using oral contraceptives (birth control pills) have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who have never used them. This risk seems to decline back to normal over time once the pills are stopped. 
• The use of alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. 

Until we find a cure, education is my way of fighting back. What's yours? For more information about breast cancer, visit Be Bright Pink.