Category: Breast Cancer

4 Ways To Lower Your Breast Cancer RIsk

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer for women after skin cancer, according to data from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

In the United States alone, an estimated 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected in women in 2015, and another 62,570 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer.

Among those patients, an estimated 40,290 women died from breast cancer, as well as 440 men.

Fortunately, there are ways you can reduce your risk of getting breast cancer. Here are the top four ways to lower your risk:

Don’t smoke

Breaking this bad habit is already a well-known tactic for avoiding lung cancer, but increasing amounts of evidence link smoking to breast cancer, too. This is especially important for pre-menopausal women.

Manage your weight

Being overweight or obese is another way to increase your risk. To keep your risk in check, maintain a healthy weight. This is even more important after menopause. 

Breast feed

Breast feeding your babies, if you have them, can reduce your risk for breast cancer. The longer you breast feed, the lower your risk. 

Limit hormone therapy

Taking combination hormone therapy for more than three to five years increases the risk of breast cancer. This includes birth control with hormones, too. If you’re on a hormone regimen, use the lowest possible effective dose—or even better, talk to your doctor about alternatives.

 

Factors in your control

There’s no way to completely eliminate all your risk for breast cancer. But, there are certain factors that are in your control. These five ways to reduce your risk is a great place to start—and don’t forget to take care of yourself with regular check-ins with your doctor, too.

Climb Stairs For Cancer Awareness

What burns twice as many calories as running and offers a more complete body workout? Climbing stairs.

Many are finding the challenge of a stair climb race to be more exhilarating than a typical run, and it’s rising in popularity as a competitive sport around the world—it’s even in the Olympics.

What to give it a try? Nonprofits are jumping on board to take advantage of this growing trend for fundraisers. As a result, there are stair climb events popping up all over the place that not only offer a great fitness challenge, but also let you give back to a great cause. Among them are many that nonprofits dedicating to fighting against cancer.

Here are a few of the most popular and most interesting:

Fight for Air Climb
If you’re looking for an opportunity close to home, the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Climb takes place at locations all over the country. Hosted in skyscrapers, stadiums, and arenas, Fight for Air Climb events raised over $7 million last year for health education, research and advocacy for lung-related diseased, including lung cancer.

Outclimb Cancer Challenge
Huntsman Cancer Foundation organizes Salt Lake City’s annual Outclimb Cancer Challenge at the 24-story Wells Fargo Center. A great event for both competitive climbers and beginners, this event lets you scale the event to your fitness level by letting you decide how many stories to climb (and how many times you want to reach the top!).

Big Climb Seattle – Climb. Conquer. Cure.
The Big Climb Seattle event for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is an extremely popular one—the 2015 event sold out in just nine hours! It takes place at the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle, which boasts status as the second tallest building west of the Mississippi.

Stair Climbing Australia Race Series
If you want to get adventurous, consider the Stair Climbing Australia Race Series. These races for competitive stair climbers will take you all over the country, with challenges like climbing 100 flights of stairs at the Sydney Tower Eye and the Sea to Sky Challenge at Australia’s tallest building. Each race supports a good cause, including cancer.

Hustle up the Hancock
This race up Chicago’s iconic Hancock Building, known for its stellar views of the city’s skyline, offers a great incentive to hurry up all 94 floors. But if that’s just too many steps for you, there is also a half-climb option that stops at the 52nd floor. Each step helps support research and education to fight against lung disease via the Respiratory Health Association, including lung cancer. At the 2015 event, participants collectively climbed an estimated 1.5 million steps.

Step Up for a Good Cause
Are you ready to step up to the challenge of a stair climb for cancer? It’s a sport that’s on the rise, and a challenging alternative to the usual fundraiser run that’s sure to whip you into shape. To get started, check out these training tips. Then, get climbing!

With stair climbing’s rising popularity, odds are there’s one near you. But if not, consider starting your own.

Cancer Awareness Dates for Fall 2015

Right now, the sun is bright and the temps may be sweltering, but fall is just around the corner. As you pull out those trunks of sweaters and shop for kids’ back-to-school supplies, don’t forget that fall is also a season full of awareness events for important causes.

(Click Here to Download the Cancer Ribbons pdf)

Make note of these important dates now so you don’t miss the chance to contribute to these important awareness initiatives! Follow the links to learn more about each cause and what you can do to spread the word.

September

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
The loss of a young life is utterly heartbreaking. And yet, relative to other causes, childhood cancer is often pushed aside from the limelight, and research is largely underfunded.

Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month
This initiative focuses on the five types of cancer to women’s reproductive organs. All women are at risk, and that risk increases with age.

Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness Month
Both cancers of the blood and bone, these two cancers are responsible for an estimated 21,000-plus deaths each year, according to the American Cancer Society.

National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
Perfectly in line with Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month, this initiative focuses specifically on cancer of the ovaries.

National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
Men’s cancer issues need awareness, too. Prostate cancer is complex and has many subtypes.

Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month
In 2014, the Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., announced a record number of 62,980 thyroid cancer diagnoses.

October

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Possibly the most popular awareness initiative of the season! But this important cause still needs your support.

There are several one-day events connected to this awareness initiative during the month:

  • October 16: National Mammography Day
    Mammographies can catch breast cancer early and save lives. This event lands on the third Friday of October each year.
  • October 13: Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day
    Metastatis is when cancer spreads from one part of the body into others. This is what causes deaths from breast cancer.

Liver Cancer Awareness Month
Cancer of the liver is the fifth most common type of cancer in the world.

November

Lung Cancer Awareness Month
The Lung Cancer Alliance expects this year’s initiative to include over 125 events in three continents.

National Stomach Cancer Awareness Month
With almost a million new cases of stomach cancer diagnosed each year, it’s the second leading cause of cancer death, according to No Stomach for Cancer.

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
In the United States, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is just six percent.

Fall is a busy season with many good causes to get behind. Take a little time to explore each, and spread the word to help others do the same. Together, we can all learn more, prevent and reduce the impact of cancers of all kinds, and save lives.

Most Popular Summer Runs for Breast Cancer Awareness

Every two minutes, another woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States, according to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The good news is, there’s tons of ways to show your support and help raise funds, so we can all fight back to reduce the number of breast cancer victims. One of the best ways to do it is with a race.

Races raise funds while also inspiring people to get in shape and enjoy the outdoors—an especially great goal in these sunny summer months!

Whether you want to walk a few miles or take on an extreme fitness challenge, there’s a race out there for you. Here are some of the most popular summer races for runners and walkers who want to get moving in support of breast cancer:

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk
As the largest network of breast cancer awareness events across the nation, it’s likely that at least one of the 300 annual event locations is somewhere near you. These noncompetitive three- to five-mile walks are an uplifting experience focused on community and support. By participating, you can help breast cancer patients and support education and prevention efforts.

AVON 39
This two-day, 39.4-mile walk isn’t kidding when it describes the race as a challenge. But AVON promises that along the way, “you’ll crush fear, doubt and breast cancer.” Not a bad trade-off for one weekend of effort. This summer, races will take place in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, with even more walks coming to additional locations across the country throughout the year.

Susan G Komen 3-Day
Branded as “the journey of a lifetime” and “the biggest thing you can do to help end breast cancer forever,” the three-day walk organized by Susan G. Komen is much more than a race—it’s a 60-mile, soulful retreat. Many who have made the journey attest to the incredible bonds they forge along the way. If you want to fight breast cancer and gain inspiring connections along the way, this one’s for you.

Race for the Cure
If you’re looking for a faster pace or shorter time investment, try Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure 5K run/walk. The popular race has been around for over 30 years and has grown to include over a million participants each year across four continents. The race welcomes people of all fitness levels, and has locations all over the country.

Tough Mudder
If you want to go all-in for an extreme fitness challenge, sign up for one of the Tough Mudder 10-12-mile obstacle courses. It’s not specifically affiliated with a breast cancer organization, but you can make sure your registration supports one by registering to run for Breast Cancer Care.

A Run for Every Style
Regardless of your pace, goals and fundraising style, there’s a breast cancer race out there for you. Along the way, you’ll make new friends, get in better shape, and enjoy the sunny summer weather. When you run to support breast cancer or other causes, everybody wins.