Thursday Thirteen #27

Howdy, kids. There's some things you need to know about how breast cancer affects the human race, especially here in the States.

1. Today, an American woman living to age 85 has a 1 in 8 chance of battling breast cancer in her lifetime. In 1960 those odds were 1 in 14.
   
2. Breast cancer kills more women than any other cancer except for lung cancer.
3. It is estimated that breast cancer will kill over 40,000 women this year alone. 450 men will also share the same fate.
   
4. Women who begin menstruating before age 12 are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. The more menstrual cycles a woman has during her lifetime, the more her risk increases.
   
5. Risk factors include: inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, family history of breast cancer, and not bearing a child before 30 years of age.
   
6. While 89 percent of patients with private insurance survived five years, only 77 percent of uninsured and 75 percent of Medicaid patients passed the five year mark.
   
7. On average, every 3 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. Every 13 minutes, a woman dies from it.
   
8. African-American women are 10% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than their Caucasian counterparts. However, they are over 33% more likely to die from it.
9. Because of early detection and better treatment, mortality rates have dropped each year since 1990.
10. Some experts are now recommending that women at high risk for developing breast cancer get an annual MRI in addition to mammograms.
11. 85% of women with breast cancer do not have a family history of breast cancer.
12. Even though the United States has the highest incidence of breast cancer diagnoses (101.1 per 100,000), our mortality rate is actually lower than many other countries, including Canada, UK, and France.
13. Numbers 9 and 12 on the list prove how important it is to fund research for this deadly disease.

If you've visited before (and even if you haven't!) you may have noticed the ad on the top right concerning the 3-Day Walk. If you are already a supporter of breast cancer research, my sincere thanks go out to you. If not...why? Even if you're male, you have a mom, a sister, an aunt, or a daughter that could possibly fall prey to this disease. Please give. The money doesn't go to me, I don't see a dime of it. Please consider even a small donation...because everyone deserves a lifetime.

Thanks for reading and supporting. God bless.

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Sources for facts above:

http://www.y-me.org/information/breast_cancer_news/breast_cancer_statistics.php

http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/STT/stt_0.asp

https://www.strengthinknowing.com/breast_cancer_facts/mending_myths.jsp

http://imaginis.com/breasthealth/statistics.asp