October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
I can’t believe that, seeing as I am interested in issues of early detection and treatment of cancer, and I’m friends with a breast-cancer survivor, Christine (@musecrossing on Twitter) I have neglected to write about the fact that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I’ve lost two of my Aunties to cancer (neither to breast cancer, though).
I have been overprotective with my Mom (whose two sisters have passed away of various forms of cancer) and I have always encouraged her to check herself for any kind of abnormal growth. When I was doing my MBA coursework I worked for a biotechnology company here in Vancouver that specialized in cancer-attacking pharmaceuticals.
I have always had an interest or “stake” in all things cancer-related. I would like to encourage all my female readers and everyone who has a friend/mother/sister to take the Thingamaboob test.
I also read on Twitter some exciting news that today about some breakthrough research findings that BC scientists obtained. According to the BC Cancer Foundation site,
For the first time in history, BC Cancer Agency scientists in British Columbia, Canada have decoded all of the three billion letters in the DNA sequence of a metastatic lobular breast cancer tumour, a type of breast cancer which accounts for about 10 per cent of all breast cancers, and have found all of the mutations, or “spelling” mistakes that caused the cancer to spread.
The landmark study, which will be published October 8th as the cover story in the prestigious international science journal Nature, helps unlock the secrets of how cancer begins and spreads, thus pointing the way to the development of new breast cancer treatment targets and therapies.
You can check the announcement below (video courtesy of BC Cancer Foundation)
BC Cancer Agency Breast Cancer Announcement from BC Cancer Foundation on Vimeo.
Related posts:
- Leaf A Legacy Cancer Fundraiser
- Guest post: Blogging for a cause and the BC Cancer Foundation by Nick Locke
- My Blogathon 2009 will be for BC Cancer Foundation again
- October – National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- BC Cancer Foundation 2007 Tour of Courage
Raul, I am indeed your friend, and am so proud to call you mind, Dr. God bless and keep you. Please carry on doing the GR8 work you do. We are all the beneficiaries of your talent.
Thank you kindly, Christine!
Thanks so much for doing your part to help increase awareness of this tragic disease and all the progress being made to find a cure. I recently got diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. No one should ever have to make such a gut wrenching decision. I hope and pray every day that more people do their part to help make a world in which our daughters can live free of this disease. Thanks for helping make that dream more of a reality.