October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. As a breast cancer survivor, I cannot stress the importance of early detection. This is especially true for older women. Of the 200,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in this country annually, 40% occur in women over the age of 65. A 5 year study of 9,700 post-menopausal women with non-metastatic breast cancer showed that death from cancer occurred in 5.7% of women under the age of 65, 6.3% of women between the ages of 65 and 74, and 8.3% of women age 75 and older. The encouraging part of the study is that the overwhelming majority of women did not die from breast cancer. But it is clear that age does impact outcomes. Please do regular self-examinations and be timely with mammograms.
Pam Miller,
Executive Director