Each month has a different awareness that we dedicate something towards. Some of them can range from mental health, teen dating violence, or diseases. Now that it is October, we represent breast cancer towards this month in particular. Today I’m going to be going over why October is the month we make people aware of it, what breast cancer is, and some ways you can help out.
Nobody really knows why we associate breast cancer with October, it’s just that it has been a thing since October of 1985, and we just have never changed when we recognize it. Other than just associating it with October we also put pink as the color for it. The reason why the pink ribbon is the symbol for breast cancer is when it all started in 1990 when the first breast cancer survivor program was put into action at the Komen National Race for The Cure. The survivor was wearing black and white buttons, but later in the year they changed it to pink visors to promote awareness. In 1991, the pink ribbon was given out to all the survivors and people that participated in the race. In the next year, the pink ribbon got put into the Self magazine and thus the pink ribbon became the symbol for breast cancer.
To know what breast cancer is, you need to know what cancer is. Cancer is when abnormal cells grow and invade your healthy cells in your body. What causes people to have breast cancer is when the cells in the breast have a group of cancer cells that invade surrounding tissues or spread to other areas of the body. The cells spread by breaking away from the original tumor and can enter blood vessels that can branch into tissues within the body.
There are different ways that you can spread awareness of breast cancer. One of the most common ways that you can help out is donating to the different fundraisers that are made for people that have breast cancers. Another way is that schools have donations to breast cancer when they have football games. It is a great way to get the community involved and raise money faster.
Sources: https://www.komen.org/uploadedFiles/Content_Binaries/The_Pink_Ribbon_Story.pdf
