Fighting breast cancer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and local businesses, students and organizations are gearing up to fight the disease.

Curves of Superior is raising awareness about the life-saving importance of risk management, early detection and treatment. Through the month of October, the women’s fitness center is waiving the joining fee for new members who show proof of a mammogram within the past year or make a $25 donation to breast cancer research.

According to statistics from the American Cancer Society (ACS), nearly 230,480 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2011, and another 57,650 will be diagnosed with carcinoma in situ, a non-invasive, early form of breast cancer. Breast cancer remains a leading cause of cancer death in women, second only to lung cancer. More than 39,500 women will die from the disease in 2011. One woman in every eight will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in her lifetime.

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, each participating Curves center will focus on three goals in supporting this annual campaign:

Helping women learn the facts about breast cancer and the importance of early detection.

Encouraging women to work out three times a week to help reduce their risk of developing breast cancer.

Participating in fund-raising efforts to support the research and outreach efforts of the ACS.

Since only about 5-10 percent of breast cancers are hereditary, prevention can play a key role in a woman’s risk management strategy. The ACS recommends making lifestyle choices such as eating right, getting regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight to help a woman significantly reduce her risk of developing breast cancer.

Early detection is the next line of defense, since about 93 percent of women whose breast cancer is caught in its earliest stages will be healthy and disease-free five years after their diagnosis and treatment.

Guidelines from the ACS encourage women age 40 and older to have a Clinical Breast Exam performed by a health professional once a year, along with a mammogram. Women in their 20s and 30s should have an exam at least every three years.

According to the ACS, death rates from breast cancer have been declining since 1990, with larger decreases in women younger than 50. Staff at the Curves of Superior said their goal is to see breast cancer statistics continue to reflect the positive impact that education and awareness can have.

For more information about activities in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to learn how to exercise good breast health, contact Curves of Superior at (715) 398-6179 or visit the ACS website at www.cancer.org/.

For more information on Curves, visit the website at www.curves.com.

Opportunities to give

A new pink CYBEX treadmill at the Marcovich Health & Wellness Center on the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus will help raise money to fight breast cancer. CYBEX will donate 10 cents to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for every mile logged on the treadmill in October. Wellness Center staff will promote use of the treadmill by Yellowjacket athletic teams and other groups throughout the month to raise money. The first mile will be logged onto the machine today by a cancer survivor from the university staff.

Members of the UWS Yellowjackets men’s and women’s soccer teams held a “Caps for Cancer” doubleheader Wednesday. They have already collected 154 winter hats for men, women and children from fans who attended the games and subsequent donations. The hats will be given to the Caring Ways Cancer Resource Center, which is located in the Essentia Health Cancer Center. The hats will be given to people in the Twin Ports, Ashland and surrounding areas who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment. As added incentive, members of the men’s team promised to shave their heads if enough hats were collected.

The threshold was met and exceeded, according to Jon Garver, athletic marketing and fundraising specialist. Every member of the men’s team is slated to get a shave during a hair-cutting event at noon Thursday on the stage in the Yellowjacket Union. Men’s team head coach Joe Mooney and women’s team assistant coach dave Bergan will also have their heads shaved. Women’s team head coach Melissa Nelmark and several of the women on the team will also be cutting their hair and donating it to a program that provides wigs for cancer patients.

Hats, both new and used, are still being collected. They can be dropped off in the second-floor office of the Marcovich Wellness Center until the Thursday hair cutting event.

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