This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the American Cancer Society is marking the occasion with some good news. This week, the society released a report showing that death rates from breast cancer in the United States have declined 34 percent since 1990. But, the society also found that the rate at which new breast cancers are diagnosed increased slightly among African American women from 2006 to 2010, bringing their rates closer to those of white women, who still have the highest diagnosis rates overall.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States, after skin cancer. It accounts for nearly 1 in 3 cancers diagnosed in women. By the end of 2013, an estimated 232,340 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and an estimated 39,620 women will die from it.
All people, whether male or female, are born with some breast cells and tissue. Even though males do not develop milk-producing breasts, a man’s breast cells and tissue can still develop cancer. Even so, male breast cancer is very rare. Less than one percent of all breast cancer cases develop in men, and only one in a thousand men will ever be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Breast cancer in men is usually detected as a hard lump underneath the nipple and areola. Men carry a higher mortality than women do, primarily because awareness among men is less and they are less likely to assume a lump is breast cancer, which can cause a delay in seeking treatment.
Don’t delay and take action! Cancer doesn’t discriminate – it doesn’t care of the color of your skin, how much money you have, what your sexual preference is, who your parents are or what your ‘status’ is. Cancer simply doesn’t care. However YOU should care! YOU matter and YOU are important!
There are steps everyone, male and female, should take to nip this in the bud! Take control of YOUR life!
Early Detection!
♥ Learn the symptoms and signs to look for.
♥ Perform self breast exams
♥ See a doctor
♥ Get a mammogram!
♥ Have a plan!
And realize you’re not alone in this! Hope is alive in all of us!
Leave a Reply