Thinking pink can keep you in the pink

Not so very many years ago, the names of middle-age women would crop up more frequently in obituaries — Mary Smith, 45, died Saturday after a long illness. What wouldn’t be said, but what people would nod their heads knowing, was Mary likely died of breast cancer.

Since then, the world has become a whole lot pinker.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which has been marked each year for more than 20 years. At first, it was all organizers could do to get breast cancer into conversations of life-threatening and altering diseases. Now, it is a flagship campaign that has since been emulated by other groups seeking to help people get control of their health and their futures.

The benefits realized over two decades of breast cancer awareness have been many, but chief among them is the striking rise in the survival rate of those who have been afflicted with breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, which supported breast cancer research in 2005 to the tune of $98.2 million, breast cancer deaths have dropped an average of 2.3 percent a year since 1990. While not a huge annual drop, considering the end product is human life the cumulative total is impressive.

The drop can be attributed to better awareness of this and other health issues and their risk factors, better diagnosis, increased access to diagnostic tools and up-to-date treatment, and an influx of funds to research the cure for breast cancer.

There is still much work to be done. According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 178,480 women will be diagnosed with and 40,460 women will die of cancer of the breast in 2007. Chances are your family or the family of someone you know has been affected by breast cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. The chance that breast cancer will be responsible for a woman's death is about 1 in 35, or about 3 percent.

No one knows better that those diagnosed. For those families and friends touched by breast cancer, we must continue to think pink.

The pink campaign has shown Americans how successful we can be at fighting a disease if we drop the hushed tones, promote education and help fund research. Early detection, self examination and continued check-ups by your family doctor are key to living with and beating breast cancer.

This month, it is breast cancer. September was Prostate Awareness Month. Next month is National Epilepsy Month.

The cures and controls are out there; we can all be part of the search. Those who are healthy are considered to be “in the pink.” Whether in the pink or not, thinking pink may help save your life or the life of a loved one.