Breast Cancer Awareness Month

We are almost at the end of breast cancer awareness month and people’s attention is beginning to die down and focus on other things. I am not going to go over the statistics, as I usually would, but I would urge people to look outside of themselves and figure out how they can stay involved in the fight against breast cancer on a regular basis, not just in October. There are so many organizations that you can get involved with. Tigerlily Foundation (www.tigerlilyfoundation.org) is a community based breast cancer support organization that provides support to the local community. We need volunteers who can meet women at chemotherapy and sit with them or run errands when needed. We also need donations for our Funds for Families Program, which is geared towards supporting families facing financial challenges while going through treatment. One of my favorite programs is our Project Gratitude, which encourages women to live with more gratitude in their lives, consciously choosing to focus on what to be thankful for, as opposed to what is going wrong in their lives.Go to www.tigerlilyfoundation.org to register for our 365 Days of Gratitude Challenge. Susan G. Komen, the Young Survival Coalition, National Breast Cancer Coalition and the African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association all have ways you can get involved in breast cancer activities, as well.One in seven being affected is too high a statistic. I was at a speaking event a few weeks ago, where I was speaking to young, college age women. Many of them felt like, “it can’t happen to me”. So, I had a few of them come stand around me and then I asked one of them to put up her hand. Well, the group that came were all friends and the one girl did put up her hand. “Well”, I said to her, “you all make up a portion of the demographic. You could be the one who might be diagnosed”. Then, it really hit them, and they began to ask questions and I could explain more about self examinations, being more of an advocate for themselves and others and taking control of their lives. Because, you see, healthy lifestyle habits, including screening for breast, cervical, lung cancer, etc., even learning to manage stress shouldn’t just be something we do when a major event happens to impact us, but should be taught to young people early in life, so that it becomes part of their lifestyle. So, even though breast cancer awareness month ends in a few days, keep in mind that a healthy lifestyle, health breasts and bodies are something we need to be conscious of all the time.Please visit me at www.tigerlilyfoundation.org or www.maimahkarmo.com to learn more or sign up for our newsletters.