Every year in October, the color pink is everywhere. There are pink ribbons on everything from cars, to professional sports uniforms to help raise awareness and show support for breast cancer patients. Many people see these ribbons everywhere, but do not know many of the basic facts or how to help support breast cancer awareness.

12.4% of women will develop a case of breast cancer in their lifetime. That means for every 8 women you know, at least 1 of them will develop breast cancer. In 2018, it is expected that around 266,120 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed and around 40,920 of people are expected not to beat their cases. For women in the United States, breast cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer, following skin cancer.

All women have the risk of developing breast cancer, but African American women have the highest risk, followed by white women. Asian, Hispanic and Native American women have the lowest risk of developing breast cancer during their lifetime. Not only does race take part in a woman’s risk of breast cancer but so does their family. If a breast cancer patient has a mother, sister and/ or daughter who has been diagnosed with breast cancer before them, the current patient’s risk doubles.  

Most people only think that women can develop breast cancer, but men can too. The risk for men to develop breast cancer is a lot lower than women at 1 in 1,000, but many men still develop cases of breast cancer. In 2018, around 2,550 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Due to many advancements in treatment, breast cancer numbers have gone down in recent years. Educating people about getting early screenings along with increased awareness have also caused the number of breast cancer diagnoses per year to drop.

Even though breast cancer numbers have dropped, people still need help winning their fight. One of the many ways you can help support breast cancer is by donating. You can visit Susan G Komen’s website or donate to many foundations that local and national stores support.

Most people would like to help support breast cancer patients, but would like to help in a different way rather than donating money.

An organization that takes different types of donations is the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition. The PBCC accepts not only money, but supplies like stamps and office supply store gift cards to write letters to current patients. Walmart and Hallmark gift cards are also accepted. EZ Pass certificates, Wawa and Sheetz gift cards are needed for gas due to the 20,000 miles the PBCC travels every year for fundraisers and events. If you would like to send any of these items to the PBCC, you can mail the items to the following address, PBCC, 2397 Quentin Road, Suite B, Lebanon, PA 17042. The PBCC also request that you include your name and address so they can thank you for your donation. For more information about donating, you can click the link below.

https://www.pabreastcancer.org/donate/other-ways-to-give/#.W7yTyrxKi00

Not only is donating money and supplies a way to help breast cancer patients, but volunteering is needed as well. The PBCC also needs more volunteers for events, health fairs and fundraisers. To sign up to volunteer, you can click the link below and fill out the information.  

https://www.pabreastcancer.org/get-involved/volunteer/interest-survey.html#.W7yVsbxKi00  

Another way you can help donate to support breast cancer is is through Amazon. Amazon has a program called Amazon Smile. Through this program, you can do your regular shopping, but at the end of your purchase, amazon will donate  0.05% of the total cost to the PBCC. All you have to do is make sure you select the PBCC before you start shopping or you can head straight through this link. http://smile.amazon.com/    

Breast cancer treatment is very costly and most family members cannot afford all of the medical bills. Any kind of donation is always greatly appreciated. Your simple act of kindness could mean the world to someone and maybe even help save a life.