Take strides to raise awareness of breast cancer – Theredstonerocket

The Breast Cancer Awareness Walk at Fox Army Health Center is back this month for the first time since 2019, due to COVID-19, to raise awareness of the disease and early detection and to honor survivors.

The event will be Oct. 27 from 12-1 p.m. at the flagpole at Fox Army Health Center at 4100 Goss Road, and the Redstone Arsenal community is invited to participate.

How can we be aware of something unless we pay attention to it? said Mary Bouldin, a nurse educator at the Center for Comprehensive Wellness at Fox. Thats what Breast Cancer Awareness Month means to me that its time to sit up and pay attention to something thats very important to most women.

Overall, the average risk of a woman in the United States developing breast cancer sometime in her life is about 13%, according to the American Cancer Society. That means there is a 1 in 8 chance she will develop breast cancer.

That means, as a woman, if you dont get it yourself, you will likely know a friend, family member, mother, sister, even a brother, husband or father who may be diagnosed with it, Bouldin said. Men are not excluded, but their rates of development are only one out of 833 per lifetime risk.

Bouldin said participants at the walk will receive information on breast cancer self-examination and the screening options that are available.

The incidence of invasive breast cancer in women has increased 0.5% per year since the mid-2000s, Bouldin said. Meanwhile, breast cancer death rates dropped by 43% from 1989 to 2020, show the findings outlined in the latest edition of American Cancer Societys Breast Cancer Statistics.

She said the possible reasons are earlier detection through screening such as mammograms that allow us to find invasive breast cancers earlier, increased awareness about breast cancer itself and the types of screening available to assist us with finding it earlier and improved treatments for breast cancers themselves with targeted treatment oftentimes available for specific types.

Bouldin said that decreasing risk means changing lifestyle habits like maintaining a healthy weight, abstaining from alcohol or decreasing to moderate consumption or less and staying physically active.Postmenopausal women may lower some risk by avoiding Hormone Replacement Therapy, and women who breastfeed their child for a year can lower some risk, she said.

Early detection decreases risk of death from breast cancer and increases options for treatments, Bouldin said. The best protection is early detection.

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Take strides to raise awareness of breast cancer - Theredstonerocket