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closeThis editorial appeared in The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News.
In case you have not seen the sudden blush of pink everywhere, it is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
In October each year, the words “mammogram,” “self-exam” and “early detection” become part of the general conversation.
It is, after all, the one disease that touches almost everyone’s life. Chances are you know a relative, co-worker, neighbor or friend who has battled breast cancer.
More than 192,000 people will learn they have breast cancer this year and more than 40,000 people will die from it. But the number of women — and men — who are surviving breast cancer is growing each year thanks to medical advances and early detection.
Most of us also know some of the millions of breast cancer survivors.
The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition has been educating the public about the disease and the need for early detection since 1993.
With its help along with a state Health Department program, more low-income women have been able to get free and reduced-cost breast and cervical cancer screening.
In the 1998-99 fiscal year, the Healthy Woman Program provided breast and cervical cancer screening to 7,146 women between the ages of 50 and 64.
In the 2008-09 fiscal year, that number jumped to 12,233 women age 40 to 64.
Gov. Ed Rendell increased funding in 2006 by $1.7 million so the screening could include women in their 40s.
This year, like many state programs in the budget, that funding was cut back to $1.6 million.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a good time to think about this disease that impacts so many families.
It’s also a good time to help spread the word, or rather the words: It is important to get a mammogram and do self-exams for early detection.
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