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October is National Breast Cancer Month in the U.S. Breast cancer is a
cancer that usually is found in women, but recently has started showing
up in men more frequently. It kills thousands of Canadians and
Americans each year and
people are desperately working for a cause. In
America, every three minutes someone is diagnosed with breast cancer.
The exact reason why people get breast cancer is unknown. Factors
that increase your risk for getting include is smoking, high alcohol
consumption, obesity and others, but the leading cause of breast cancer
is age.
Also your risk of getting it is higher if your mother, sister, daughter
or two close relatives (like cousins) have a history of breast
cancer -- although 85% of women who develop breast cancer have NO known
history in their family of the disease.
To get rid of this cancer, you usually have to go through some type of
surgery or have special medical dosages. One of these treatments is
chemotherapy, which can be applied to all kinds of cancers, not just
breast cancer.
Undergoing chemo means that high radiation is applied to your body --
this can stop the
growth of fast-splitting cells. Cancer is one of these kinds
of cells. Unfortunately, radiation can also damage cells like your hair.
Chemo often results in losing your hair, which can be very hard for
some people, especially kids and teenagers. That's why there are
special organizations for donating your real hair to make wigs for
these people. So if you have pretty long hair and you want to cut it
short, ask your hairdresser if they know how you can donate your hair!
If you care about this life-threatening illness, you can show your
support by wearing a pink ribbon. You can even do it in Whyvile by
buying from one of the many designers who have pink
ribbons for sale.
dancer153
Editor's
Note: Thanks for your report, dancer153! Please share with us in
the BBS where you got your info, ok? In looking up breast cancer
information, I found this interesting sitefrom 2002: http://www.channelone.com/power/2002/11/20/chemo/.
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