You Better Check Yourself!

I am super excited to tell you all about my plan to help promote breast cancer awareness!

Last month, I decided that I wanted to do something to help celebrate and contribute to Breast Cancer Awareness. The plan was to make something pink and donate what ever was left after shipping and covering supplies to help get the word out about breast cancer, what we can do to catch it early, and to give hope to those who have via the Susan G. Komen website - http://ww5.komen.org/. But after chatting with a friend, I learned that her sister is a survivor who runs in a race for the cure. Michelle (Glass Identites) is already donating portions of her sales to her sister's camp. In order to be able to run, the entrant or orginization has to have raised at least $1,000 for the campain. I'm not sure where she is or how much she has to go (will let you know when I find out) but I've always wanted to do something like that, but never have the right timing or connections.

SO, rather than go to the Susan G. Komen site to donate, I'm going to give my donation to Michelle's sister so that she can run for us.

You can find my donation items in the "For the Cause" section of my studio.

When the month began, I sat and thought about how I had been affected by breast cancer. After a bit of thinking, I decided that I've been lucky enough to not have been affected by it at all.

But when I layed down to go to sleep, my eyes popped open with the memory of a lady that I knew only as Dee. I wasn't very old when she was around...probably 4 or 5. I remember tagging along with my aunt to see her friend. I remember her asking her how she was and her mentioning that 'she wasn't thinking about that titty'. She was glad it was gone, I'm sure. Dee had had a mastectomy.

She was an older woman, and her house was kind of dark in the inside. Like there were no over head lights, only lamps. She was a nice lady who I really never knew and who died as a result of having breast cancer. But I do still remember her.

So, what is it exactly?

"Definition of breast cancer: Cancer that forms in tissues of the breast, usually the ducts (tubes that carry milk to the nipple) and lobules (glands that make milk). It occurs in both men and women, although male breast cancer is rare."

(Definition taken from the National Cancer Institute's Breast Cancer Homepage)

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There are things that we can do to keep people in our lives longer, and to make sure that we ourselves are around to see the day when _____.

Did you know that

• the older a woman, the more likely she is to get breast cancer?
• white women are more likely to get breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group?
• African American women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women?
• men can get breast cancer, although it is rare? Less than one of every 100 cases of breast cancer in the U.S. occurs in men.
• in 2008, it is estimated that men will account for 1,990 cases of breast cancer?

Check yourself.

Encourage your loved ones to check themselves.

Talk about it.

And please remember that women aren't the only ones affected by breast cancer. Men get it too, so tell them to check themselves as well!

Here is an interactive tool which teaches us how to perform self check exams properly:

http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/InteractiveTools.html