MEMPHIS, Tenn. — October is breast cancer awareness month.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers. About 1.3 million people, men and women, are diagnosed each year. With no known cure, the need to bring awareness only grows stronger. The pandemic has slowed many things down, but not all.
“We know breast cancer is not taking a break,” said Lisa Mischke, Susan G. Komen Memphis-MidSouth Mississippi Grant Director.
The work to bring awareness and support is very much on-going. Mischke has been helping to plan this year's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“It’s a different kind of experience this year given the pandemic. The biggest difference is that our race will be virtual,” said Mischke. “It has been a challenge and it continues to be a challenge to keep folks engaged and to keep the registrations and donations coming in.”
Those donations are needed especially considering how far we've come in the past few decades.
“Breast cancer mortality at that time was roughly 30-percent higher than it is now. Since then, we have seen that decrease in mortality,” said Mischke.
While there has been some progress, there is still a long ways to go.
“Here in Memphis, an African American woman is nearly twice as likely to not survive breast cancer as women of other races,” said Mischke.
Your support helps with research to find a cure and get more resources like mammograms to patients who may not have access to that care.
“When it’s detected early like that, the survival rate is between 98 and 99-percent,” said Mischke. “Early detection is the best tool for ultimately saving lives and surviving breast cancer.”
The foundation encourages people to know your risk, get screened, know what is normal for you, and make healthy lifestyle choices.