Beyond Awareness

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I could not let this month close without publishing a post on Breast Cancer Awareness, something I am a very strong advocate for.

I recently heard from a coworker that when her daughter in law turned 40 yrs old, she decided to invest in her health a little more.  She scheduled an appointment for her very first mammogram and was found to have stage IV breast cancer. I can not imagine the wild whirlwind her life has taken on in the last month or so going from diagnosis to quickly undergoing an aggressive course of treatment. My heart aches for her and her family. 

Sadly, this is not a standalone case. There are many people who go to the doctor for a routine visit and leave with a life changing diagnosis; sometimes because they overlooked that spot, or that odd pain. The point I am trying to make is that we need to take care of ourselves. Sometimes we get so caught up in our busy schedules, or we just coast along because we’ve felt relatively healthy "all our lives", and we fail to take care of this body that takes us through those busy schedules.

Do not neglect your self.

Make time for those routine check-ups.

If something in your body does not seem right, get it checked out. It is better to have a routine check-up now when that pain is just a tiny nuisance than to have it progress later on.  

I understand that we are beyond awareness now, in regards to Breast and other types of cancers, but I still wanted to highlight the need for vigilance.  There are many things in this world that can contribute to that dreaded cancer diagnosis and there is no miracle drug that can prevent it. I honestly believe it is just the luck of the draw these days. However, I implore you to make those routine appointments and to do your self-checks, so that if you are ill, it may at least be diagnosed at an earlier stage.

Current Breast Cancer Studies

As some of you who may have been following me for some time may know, I am a supporting blogger for the Dr. Susan Love/Avon Army of Women. You can read more about what that means, here. My posts have been few and far between, but I am still very much committed to this service.

In the sidebar, you will notice a pink button that says "Army of Women: Current Breast Cancer Studies". Click the button, and the link will take you to where I keep an updated list of all of the breast cancer studies that require participants. Please take some time to look through the study requirements and see if you are able to participate in a study . You would be doing a great service to the researchers, and to current and future breast cancer sufferers.

Here is also a link to other studies you can join.

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Army of Women: Health of Women Study

It's been a while since I've written one of these posts. Here is a study everyone can be a part of:

 Health of Women (HOW) Study

This is a research study that aims to discover HOW breast cancer starts and HOW to prevent it. Every woman can take part in the study, as well as men living with breast cancer or at high risk for breast cancer.

Research Study Goals:

• The goal of the HOW study is to study a large group of men and women over time to examine the causes of breast cancer. In order to do this, we will need to include all ages, ethnicities, and races, as well as to compare those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to those who have not. The HOW Study will ask you to answer questions about your health and health habits over time to give us a view of what people are doing and how their health is being affected. In addition, we will be asking specific questions of women and men living with breast cancer to give us ideas about what, beyond treatment, leads to long term survival as well as what the real long term side effects of current treatments are. We will include specific questions for underrepresented groups such as people with metastatic disease, men with breast cancer, transgender individuals, and women from particular ethnic groups. Finally, this study will address the questions you've been asking: is there an environmental cause of breast cancer, are fertility drugs and bio-identical hormones safe, and what about deodorant and underwire bras (source)?

What is involved?:

• Participation in the HOW study will require the completion of online questionnaires addressing health and well-being, medical history, reproductive health history, and family health history periodically. You will receive a Call-to-Action email with a questionnaire whenever a new one is available. Questionnaires are only released every few months, or so, and will take between 30 and 60 minutes (or less) to complete. Study results will be shared with you. The study is long-term, but you also have the option of withdrawing from the study.

Who is conducting the study?:

• The study is conducted by the Dr. Susan Love Research foundation, in partnership with Dr. Leslie Bernstein from the Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, CA.

Where?

• Study participants can live anywhere worldwide.

Study Requirements (you must match ALL of these requirements):

• You are at least 18 years old
• You have access to an internet connection through a computer or mobile device
• You are willing to be part of this study long term
• You are EITHER
• a woman (with or without breast cancer) OR
• a man living with breast cancer or at high risk for breast cancer

 If you are interested in being a part of this study, sign up here.

** Note **

I am an Army of Women (AOW) Supporting Blogger. 

This simply means that I volunteer to use my blog as a medium to publish posts that will bring awareness and recruit participants for nationwide Breast Cancer Research studies. Army of Women research studies are in conjunction with the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation's initiative to:

• Recruit 1 million women and men of every age and ethnicity, including breast cancer survivors and women at high-risk for the disease, to partner with breast cancer researchers and directly participate in the research that will eradicate breast cancer once and for all.
• To challenge the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women.

Enough Awareness, It's Time for Action!

October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and ashamedly I admit to have neglected my duties for the Army of Women (AOW), and failed to write a breast cancer related post. This is my attempt at making up for it:

At this stage of the game, we are all aware of breast cancer. It is that imminent thing that lies over our heads during our doctor visits, especially as we get older. It is that disease that many women fear. The one that causes us to lose loved ones, and forces us to fight if diagnosed. We are all aware.

That is why the Dr. Susan Love Foundation has suggested to shift the month of October from being a month of awareness to a month of action thereby becoming Breast Cancer Action Month.

This new initiative plays in with the goals of the Love/Avon Army of Women very well. In conjunction with the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, the Love/Avon Army of Women strives to find the causes of breast cancer and ways to prevent it through scientific research.  By recruiting 1 million women (and men) from all walks of life into the Love/Avon Army of Women, they are building a network or community of people who may be eligible (and are encouraged to) participate in the many research studies being conducted by scientists across the United States.

So, how can you 'Act With Love' towards breast cancer? Here are a few simple things you could do:

• Invest yourself by signing up for the Army of Women program, celebrating its four year anniversary and more than 360,000 women strong; and by signing up for the Health of Women Study, a revolutionary online study that women over the age of 18, with or without a history of breast cancer can participate in, so we can identify new risk factors for breast cancer and ways to prevent it.
• Also, invest your friends by either forwarding this post everyone you know and asking them sign up for the Health of Women Study and the Army of Women or being part of their Facebook community.
• And if you feel so inclined, invest your dollars by making a donation or by purchasing products from the AOW partners that chose them because research and ending the disease is a top priority for them. 

To read my previous Army of Women posts, follow the link in the page sidebar, or click here. You can also check the "Army of Women -- Current Breast Cancer Studies" tab at the top of the page for information on current studies that still need volunteers.

**I am an Army of Women (AOW) Supporting Blogger. ** 

Army of Women Updates

• A few weeks ago, Love/Army of Women participants were notified that the Ford Motor Company has selected the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation to be part of its new Ford Warriors in Pink campaign: Models of Courage. Ford's Model of Courage program was created to honor the men and women across the country who inspire everyone involved in the fight against breast cancer. If your purchase any merchandise from the Warriors in Pink collection, "100 percent of the proceeds of these sales go directly to the fight against breast cancer and you can select the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation to be the organization you want to support!!" (source)

• There are a ton of new breast cancer studies that needs participants. I will list a couple of them below along with a link to get more info about each one. Also, if you click the "Army of Women-- Current Breast Cancer Studies" tab below my blog header, you can read through many of the other studies that currently need participants. 
• Women in the US who underwent surgical treatment for ANY type of breast cancer
• Wanted: Women in the United States who underwent surgical treatment for ANY type of breast cancer, including LCIS, DCIS, and Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, to take part in an on-line survey designed to explore the impact of breast cancer surgery on long-term health, quality of life, and satisfaction with care. A research team at Duke University will use the information collected from the survey to help guide surgical decision-making and optimize the long-term health of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.(more info here)
  
• Effect of Birth Control Pills on Breast Tissue
•  Wanted: English OR Spanish-speaking women in the Los Angeles area who are between the ages of 18 and 35 who have NOT had breast cancer, and who are currently using or are willing to start using an oral contraceptive for 3 months to take part in a research study that is being conducted at the University of Southern California. We have recruited for this study in the past, but the research team still needs women to sign up! (more info here)
  
•  Had a benign breast biopsy between January 1998 and December 2006?
• A research team at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is investigating whether the amount of DNA damage seen in the cells in normal breast tissue may be an indicator of future breast cancer risk. Previously, the researchers recruited women who had had a benign breast biopsy and then went on to develop breast cancer. NOW, they need women who had a benign breast biopsy but did NOT go on to develop breast cancer. By recruiting women who did develop breast cancer and women who did not, they will be able to look for markers in the breast cells that might be an indicator of breast cancer risk. (more info here)

Please take time out to see if you qualify for participating in any of these or other current studies. Also, if you haven't already signed up to be an Army of Women volunteer, please do so here.

** Disclaimer: You do not need to have or have had breast cancer to be a volunteer. **

**I am an Army of Women (AOW) Supporting Blogger. **

Top 10 Things to Do to Prevent Breast Cancer

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"What can I do to prevent breast cancer?" "What is the best way to find my cancer early, before it has spread?" These are two of the most common questions women have. Here's what we know:

There is nothing that you can do to ensure that you absolutely do not get breast cancer. However, studies suggest that some lifestyle choices may help reduce breast cancer risk.

These include:

1.    Eating a healthy diet that is low in animal fat and high in whole grains and fruits and vegetables. (There is no data indicating that a specific diet, per se, can help reduce breast cancer risk.)
2.    Taking a multivitamin and make sure it includes adequate folic acid.
3.    Having your children before 35, if you have a choice.
4.    Breastfeeding your children.
5.    Avoiding unnecessary X-rays.
6.    Drinking alcohol in moderation and make sure you take folic acid when you do drink.
7.    Losing weight (if you are overweight).
8.    Not gaining weight after menopause.
9.    Getting regular exercise.
10.  Using hormone therapy to treat menopausal symptoms for the shortest time period necessary, if at all.

You should also be sure to:

• Evaluate any breast symptoms or changes that develop.
• Have mammograms when appropriate.
• Consider raloxifene if you are postmenopausal and need to take a drug to prevent bone loss.
• If you have a family history of breast cancer or for other reasons are at high risk of getting breast cancer, visit Army of Women's section for High-Risk Women.

To help AOW learn more about breast cancer prevention, you can:

• Join the Love/Avon Army of Women, revolutionary initiative that is changing the face of breast cancer research. (It's free, and you won't be solicited for anything except your participation in scientific research studies).
• Participate in studies sponsored by the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. 
• Become a breast cancer advocate, and work with us to insure that research on breast cancer prevention is supported and funded.

**I am an Army of Women (AOW) Supporting Blogger. **

Breast Cancer Awareness and Prevention Month

 Source

 If you've been out to supermarkets, stores, or done some online shopping lately, you may be fully aware that it is now October and Breast Cancer Awareness month. Today is also the second annual "Blog for your Breasts Day". I wrote about my connection to and interest in Breast Cancer in this post last year, and it was both nerve-wrecking and relieving to share that part of me with readers.

I know many of you may be thinking that 'of course we are all aware of breast cancer by now', which may be true, but here are some other tidbits that you may not know:

1. Breast cancer is one of the major illnesses women face after the age of 40. 
2. Symptoms (other than a palpable lump) include: thickening and swelling of the breast, irritation or dimpling of the breast skin, pain in the nipple area, any change in size or shape of the breast, and non- lactation nipple discharge (i.e. blood).
   Mammograms are used as a method of detection. They are mainly recommended for women starting around 40 years of age. It is also highly recommended that women over the age of 50 receive a mammogram every two years. 
3. Tips for lowering risks of breast cancer include (Source: Center for Disease Control): 
1. Limiting your alcohol intake.
2. Maintain a healthy weight and diet.
3. Take note of your family's history with breast cancer. 
4. Do self-check exams regularly. If you feel something irregular, schedule a breast ultrasound, as this may be one of the least expensive mechanisms of detection. 

Lastly, remember that for all of us, "Breast cancer is not a pink ribbon", as this pin on Pinterest has so vividly portrayed. So won't you please join me in becoming a part of Dr. Susan Love's Initiative: Army of Women (AOW). For this "Blog for Your Breasts" event, she states:

We invite you to use your voice through your blog to spread the word about the Love/Avon Army of Women. The Army of Women initiative, a program of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, funded by a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women, is recruiting ONE MILLION WOMEN of all ages and ethnicities, with or without breast cancer, to sign up and participate in breast cancer research studies. If we can get ONE MILLION WOMEN involved in research, we are one step closer to understanding the cause of breast cancer and how to prevent it.
The Army of Women campaign is an online initiative, where women can sign up at www.ArmyOfWomen.org. We are dedicating ONE day to reach ONE million women to sign up for the Army of Women. Together, we can move breast cancer beyond a cure and eradicate it once and for all.

Believe it or not, cancer is a multistep cellular  process that affects everyone differently. If enough people from different racial backgrounds, ethnicities, etc sign up for AOW and participate in some of the research studies that they have going on, I'm sure researchers would be closer in finding a disease mechanism in which to attack. I promise you, you'll only receive about one email per month (a monthly update) delineating all the new things happening with AOW and any new studies that they're having that you may be able to participate in. Please consider joining Army of Women today. Not just for yourself but for our future generations.

It Takes An Army

"Breast cancer is not a man or woman's disease-- it's a family disease"

As an Army of Women (AOW) supporting blogger, I hoped to spread the word about this wonderful organization. Although this blog does not have hundreds of subscribers and tons of sponsors, my blog statistics show that I do get a wide range of visitors residing in various cities and countries around the world. I take that information as a great medium for sharing about AOW.

One of the primary goals of Army of Women is to gain 1 million volunteers to sign up with their organization. As a volunteer, you will be asked to participate in various research studies that all share the common goal of finding a cure for breast cancer. These research studies are not all geared towards those diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, in order to find a cure, researchers also have to find a cause to prevent further occurrences and to decrease the burden of cancer on hard-hit ethnicities, age groups, and just our mothers, daughters, aunts, co-workers, best friends and husbands in general. {Yes, men ARE affected too}.

I honestly believe that this blog and the blogs of other supporting bloggers can help. As of today, AOW has only reached 1/3 of their goal of reaching an "army" of 1 million volunteers. They still have quite a ways to go. They can either reach their goal by having 1/3 of the US population signing up, or a few hundred thousand US citizens and another few hundred thousand foreign citizens joining to make that quota. The combinations of volunteers signing up to make that quota are endless.

So, if you are from anywhere in the world, and you happen to read, glance over, or browse this blog post, please sign up for the Love/Avon Army of Women.

You can find out more about their organization by reading previous posts here or by visiting their site:
www.armyofwomen.org

I'm a Supporting Blogger!

Right after posting about the GAP Study a few weeks ago, I decided, to just take the pledge to become an Army of Women supporting blogger. After all, I support their mission 100% and if I am persistent enough to ask my facebook friends to join their mission (every few months or so), then why not promote it on my blog as well?

Breast cancer awareness has been a passion of mine for a few years now. Breast cancer is a disease that weakens and defeats mothers, wives, sisters, etc., but with all the research being done and early detection screenings, it is possible to fight it. The Love/Avon Army of Women (AOW) would like to recruit 1 million women (i.e. women who are healthy, have been diagnosed with breast cancer, breast cancer survivors, women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, etc) to participate in any breast-cancer related study. Signing up is free, and you won't be bothered with hundreds of emails... just an average of one per month giving an update about the current studies, who is needed an any progress AOW has made.

As a supporting blogger, I will be posting blogs every once in a while informing my readers of any new studies that are being conducted. I will also try to recruit new women to sign up. I have also installed the Army of Women Widget on the left. This widget is frequently updated with any new studies or news from AOW.

If you haven't signed up yet, please do so today.

Here is a link to their website: http://www.armyofwomen.org/
Facebook page
Youtube page
Twitter


[Source]

Bridge the Gap

African American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than Caucasian women, even though fewer African American women are getting breast cancer each year and screening use has improved. And, this difference has actually gotten worse over the past 20 years {armyofwomen.org}.

We need to know what is going on so that we can begin closing the GAP between the health outcomes of African American women and Caucasian women.

If you are an African American woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer (or if you know of someone who was), please participate or invite them to participate in this study (Click link).

"The best way to close this GAP is to fill it with knowledge!"



Also, sign up to be a soldier for Army of Women.
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Bloggin' for My Breasts-- One Million Strong

Christmas Eve, 2oo3, I was lying on the bed of Hahnemann University hospital in downtown Philly being prepped for the surgery to remove a mass in my breast. My memories of the past are kind of foggy, but I remember that day....[I was 16 yrs old].... That morning.... [It was 6am]. My surgery was scheduled for 8 o'clock that morning. The doctor was really nice. A young, White male who asked me what my career goals were. I told him boldly that I wanted to be neurosurgeon. I asked him what his profession was, he told me he was a cancer surgeon.

My career goals have changed since then, but my fear of cancer still remains. The tumor they removed that day was benign. Since then, I have had 2 more spring up in my breast that I don't even want to have removed. I feel as though I would lose a part of my femininity if my boobs were any smaller. But then I think about the many other women who DO have breast cancer. Those women whose lives have changed as a result. It's a hard thing to deal with, I'm sure, but I'm grateful that I was not afflicted. Ever since then, I've been trying to be as active as possible in informing my generation about breast cancer. It is not inevitable. Cancer is a disease of old age (as your cells continue to divide and more and more mutations are made), but you can never be "too young" to develop it.

Today starts Breast Cancer Awareness Month. About a year ago, I discovered the Love/Avon Army of Women website . I think I first heard about it on the TodayShow. as I am an avid viewer of the show [like a middle aged house-wife ;0)]. You can find out more about Dr. Susan Love here.

The goal of Dr. Love's website is to gather 1 million women (young, old and healthy and/or stricken with breast cancer) to sign up and participate in breast cancer research studies in order to find the cause of breast cancer and ultimately the cure. You see, with one million women in one centralized area, it is easier and more convenient to perform studies that would provide a significant amount of data. When conducting surveys, many people aim to have at least 100 participants, to represent an entire population of people. It is then that their data is considered plausible. How much more would 1 million participants be in the conductance of these breast cancer studies? Army of Women currently has 338,370 participants, which means we are a LONG ways off from having a million. Please join to help in this initiative.

Below is a video of their public service announcement. I like it a lot, but there were many other video entries here.

More about Love/Avon Army of Women:

• Men are able to sign up for the Army of Women too.
  
• When you sign up, you are signing up to be added to the Army of Women database to hear about research projects—signing up for the Army of Women does NOT sign you up for a study yet.
• The Army of Women Research Studies are prevention based, not clinical trials.
• Participants must be 18 and older—but they need ALL ethnicities—ALL ages, healthy women, women with cancer and women who are survivors.
• There is absolutely NO COST to join and take part in something this important—they are not asking for donations, just for women to sign up and agree to hear about studies. Participation in any of their studies is ALWAYS, COMPLETELY voluntary.
• Participants will be involved in important research to discover THE CAUSE of breast cancer—how to stop it before it starts.
• Women who join have the ability to participate only in those projects that interest them. They can opt to decline any study invitation, or accept any invitation of their choosing.
• Studies will require a variety of different things (women can be asked anything from filling out an online questionnaire to being asked for a blood sample). It all varies according to study.

So, JOIN please and INVITE a friend.