43 A woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years was in the crowd. No one could cure her. 44 She came up behind Jesus, touched the edge of his clothes, and her bleeding stopped at once.
45 Jesus asked, “Who touched me?”
After everyone denied touching him, Peter said, “Teacher, the people are crowding you and pressing against you.”
46 Jesus said, “Someone touched me. I know power has gone out of me.”
47 The woman saw that she couldn’t hide. Trembling, she quickly bowed in front of him. There, in front of all the people, she told why she touched him and how she was cured at once.
48 Jesus told her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace!” – Luke 8:43-48
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and women and concerned men around the world wear pink as a sign of bringing awareness and giving a nudge to research scientists to find a cure for this debilitating disease. To be fair, medical science has advanced in its research findings and inventions in other areas that have made all our lives better. Really better. There are discoveries in heart operations (a 2011 mitral valve replacement I can testify to that gave me a new lease on life *), operations on lungs, kidney transplants are all part of experiences many of the planet’s populations are living longer and better lives. Even in the area of dental health, numerous procedures are making many of us smile more confidently as teeth are straightened, added, or removed to be replaced with a non-decaying one.
Sadly, however wonderful all these medical advances may be, there is regrettably, a long way to go for medical science in finding a cure for breast cancer. The yearly mammogram screening has brought the rising cases of breast cancer to slow down as medical personnel are able to detect it in its early stages, and provide various treatments in mitigating its effects on many cancer survivors, heroines and heroes.
In solidarity with breast cancer survivors, heroines and heroes , the Susan G. Komen Foundation in October 1991 started the practice of handing out pink ribbons during a campaign to participants in York City in the race for breast cancer survivors. The commemoration that had started in 1985 developed into an ongoing campaign to bring awareness to the world of this ailment. And in the month of October, women, joined by some men, wear pink to celebrate the survivors of breast cancer as well as heroines, and heroes who succumbed to breast cancer.
October is the “wear all the pink you got breast cancer awareness month.”
According to statistics found on the Internet, in 2022, an estimated 670,000 women died from breast cancer worldwide. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women in most countries; and a few men are also known to have been diagnosed with breast cancer. In the United States, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, and accounts for about 30% (or 1 in 3) of all new female cancers each year.
The American Cancer Society’s estimates for breast cancer in the United States for 2024 are:
- About 310,720 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women.
- About 56,500 new cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) will be diagnosed.
- About 42,250 women will die from breast cancer.
Breast cancer mainly occurs in middle-aged and older women. The median age at the time of breast cancer diagnosis is 62. This means half of the women who developed breast cancer are 62 years of age or younger when they are diagnosed. A very small number of women diagnosed with breast cancer are younger than 45. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. (Only lung cancer kills more women each year.) The chance that any woman will die from breast cancer is about 1 in 40 (about 2.5%).
There has been a decrease in death rates and it is believed to be the result of finding breast cancer earlier through annual mammogram screening and increased awareness, as well as better treatments.
Some variations in breast cancer can be seen in racial and ethnic groups. For example:
- The median age at diagnosis is slightly younger for Black women (60 years old) compared to White women (64 years old).
- Black women have the highest death rate from breast cancer. This is thought to be partially because Black women have a higher risk of triple-negative breast cancer, more than any other racial or ethnic group.
- At every age, Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than any other race or ethnic group.
- White, Asian, and Pacific Islander women are more likely to be diagnosed with localized breast cancer than Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Alaska Native women.
- Asian and Pacific Islander women have the lowest death rate from breast cancer.
(Retrieved on October 8, 2024 from https://amp.cancer.org/cancer/types/breast-cancer/about/how-common-is-breast-cancer.html)
In Malawi, cancer is an illness that has been among us and continues to ravage the lives of young and old men and women, young and elderly. My Mom was 27 years old when she was stricken with breast cancer. She struggled as a young mother of four, she could not breast-feed her youngest baby boy; he survived on bottled milk. Other family members and friends who are survivors or heroes and heroines include Alice, Esna, KM and many others.
The story of cancer is hard and painful; the treatment, apart from being costly, brings a lot of pain and dread when cancer patients describe their experiences of chemotherapy. At each conversation I have with my heroic friend Alice, I continue to pray and implore health scientists, medical researchers, and inventors, please find a cure for breast cancer. The brilliant minds in the medical field gave us heart transplants, dental implants, and dentures. And there has been a massive path since the introduction of laser surgery, a procedure that uses laser beams to cut tissue or remove wounds, abrasions of scratches without blood.
In this month of October, set up awareness campaigns, talk sessions, or writing competitions on breast cancer. And whether you are campaigning to raise breast cancer awareness or not, please join me, Janet Zeenat Karim and “wear all the pink you got to commemorate breast cancer awareness month!!!”
*The mitral valve is one of the heart’s four valves that helps blood flow through the heart and out to the body. The surgical procedure replaces a damaged mitral valve with an artificial valve.
