Early detection and diagnosis is the key to beating cancer.  Women between the ages of 20-39 should have a clinical breast exam or mammogram every three years.  After age 40, an exam should be performed every year.  Breast self exams have been found to play a very small role in finding breast cancer compared with finding a lump by chance or simply noticing a change by being aware of what is normal for each individual woman.  The American Cancer Society believes mammograms, MRI, clinical breast exams and finding and reporting breast changes early offers women the best chance to reduce the risk of dying of cancer.

Although heredity plays a large role in determining a woman’s risk for getting breast cancer, there are some things you can do to help prevent the disease from ever forming.  Exercise paired with a healthy diet, along with avoided certain pollutants such as alcohol and tobacco can make a big impact in the prevention of cancer.  Tobacco intake, specifically through smoking, damages nearly every organ in the human body, which weakens your body’s natural defense system, putting smokers at a higher risk of contracting all types of cancer. 

Although breast cancer is a terrible, deadly disease it can be treated if diagnosed in time.  Please help us in raising awareness of breast cancer and the many steps women can take to prevent it from occurring.

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