October is breast cancer awareness month. And boy oh boy have I been made aware of this cancer often during these last couple of years. First, one of my beautiful Parisian friends got affected by it. With her I discovered the warrior side of women. She is a real fighter, keeping her head up and looking the cancer straight in the eyes! The fight was not easy, but she won!
And since then more women in my close circle of friends got this type of cancer. So I realized it is a very common type of cancer. It is actually the most common case of cancer in America, after skin cancer. Even though treatments are getting more and more effective, today it is still the second leading cause of cancer death among women, right after lung cancer....not all warriors win their battle...
A woman has about a one in 8 chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Most women (about eight out of 10) who get breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease.
I will not tell you what to do or not to do to avoid it. Everyone is in charge of her or his own life. But there is one important thing that you need to do: do the screenings. Not every women has symptoms (if your breast changes appearance or you notice a lump in your breast, or if you have a bloody discharge in your nipple) but every cancer can be diagnosed thanks to screening. So do not hesitate, do the screening. I know it is not a pleasant screening, but it literally could save your life!
And to my friends Valérie, Laurence and Ellen, you are my models, you are the true warriors!
xoxo