Call freephone 9 to 5 Monday to Friday or email us. Skip to main content. Breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that starts in the breast tissue. What is breast cancer? Breast cancer symptoms Symptoms of breast cancer include a lump or thickening in the breast. Survival Survival is generally very good for breast cancer and is continuing to improve. Risks and causes Read about the factors that can increase or reduce your risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer stages, types and grades Get information about the number and TNM staging systems and the grades and types of breast cancer.
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Join our online community to connect, share, and find peer support. Home About Breastcancer. Breast cancer holds a peculiarly powerful sway with us — it's a disease dreaded so profoundly that not supporting the cause feels like tempting fate.
When our minds wander to the unthinkable, breast cancer tops that black list of God-help-me scenarios, conjuring up images of surgery, mutilation, chemotherapy and its attendant nausea, and hair loss as terrifying as losing a breast for some ; of helpless partners convincing us and themselves that we're still as desirable as before; of living with a constant, insidious fear that it's never really over.
It's about our breasts, for chrissake, the embodiment of femininity, sex appeal, and motherhood. It is a disease of agonizing choices Christina Applegate's preventive double mastectomy and unfathomable compromises Elizabeth Edwards' deathbed denouement with her wayward husband. This is what breast cancer means to many women, and it's why, unlike even ovarian or uterine cancer, it makes us suckers for every pink-ribbon trinket and walkathon solicitation that crosses our paths. In this environment, it's difficult to ask questions.
If you question anything, well then, you must hate women," says Gayle Sulik, author of Pink Ribbon Blues. What's not working? Isn't that what we say we want? Sophisticated digital mammography has reduced the risk of false-positive diagnoses; the discovery of genetic markers has allowed women with increased risk for breast cancer to weigh their preventive options early; drugs like Herceptin, which targets the proteins responsible for a cancer cell's growth, have demonstrated remarkable results in the 20 percent of patients afflicted with the particularly aggressive HER2-positive form of breast cancer.
Doctors warn that there are never any absolutes when it comes to breast cancer, but for the 60 percent of women diagnosed at the earliest stage, survival is virtually guaranteed. Yet what many in the breast cancer community are loathe to admit, despite all these lifesaving developments, is that, in fact, we are really no closer to a cure today than we were two decades ago.
In , women in the U. Today, that figure is — a victory no one is bragging about. Breast cancer remains the leading cancer killer among women ages 20 to 59; more than 1. Roughly 5 percent, or 70,, breast cancer patients are diagnosed at a late stage, after the cancer has metastasized — that rate hasn't budged since , despite all the medical advances and awareness campaigns.
For these women, the prognosis remains grim: Only 1 in 5 will survive five years out. Fundamental questions still elude researchers: Why do a third of all women considered cured by their doctors suffer recurrences? Why are breast cancer rates rising in Asia, where they've been historically low? Is it even possible to prevent breast cancer, and if so, how? A popular gripe among advocates is that too much is spent on awareness campaigns — walks, races, rallies — at the expense of research.
And really, when Snuggies go pink, haven't we hit our awareness saturation point? There's a case to be made for that, of course, but there's another explanation, one that exposes an ugly, even blasphemous truth of the movement: Breast cancer has made a lot of people very wealthy.
The fact is, thousands of people earn a handsome living extending their proverbial pink tin cups, baiting their benefactors with the promise of a cure, as if one were realistically in sight. They divert press, volunteers, and public interest away from other, more legitimate organizations, to say nothing of the money they raise, which, despite the best intentions of donors, doesn't always go where it's supposed to. In , Hillary Rutter received a call at her Plainview, Long Island, home from an outfit called the Plainview Chapter of the Coalition Against Breast Cancer, asking for a contribution to help subsidize the medical expenses of local breast cancer survivors.
When she asked pointed questions about where donations were going, the caller hung up on her. Galled that a fly-by-night operation would exploit the issue of breast cancer in Long Island, where women have long suspected they are at an epicenter of the disease, Rutter secured a copy of the group's financial records. Tax returns of nonprofits are available to the public. Instead, those dollars went to telemarketers and salaries. Rutter began keeping a file on the group, which over the years grew thick with complaints about harassing calls and questionable fundraising tactics.
Last June, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed suit against the Coalition Against Breast Cancer, calling it a "sham charity" that for 15 years "served as a personal piggy bank" for the group's insiders. CABC is contesting these claims. One problem, he says, is that breast cancer charities are often run by well-meaning but inexperienced survivors or relatives who duplicate the efforts of established organizations.
They use donor dollars to print their own educational brochures, though they certainly exist elsewhere; they organize events to promote awareness — "Skydive to End Breast Cancer! There's no requirement of a college degree or business experience to run a charity. You don't even need a clean legal record. The treasurer for the Coalition Against Breast Cancer was a Long Island housepainter with several warrants for unpaid child support. Even the names of many charities are designed to fool donors into believing they are bigger and more impressive than they are.
Founder Erica Harvey says she came up with the name "with a team of marketing consultants. All charities must file detailed financial reports with the Internal Revenue Service, but they don't have to be audited, or certified by a licensed accountant.
In effect, anyone can write them up and turn them in. Susan G. Your support will help us fund life-saving research, treatment, education and community health programs. In September , Leandro found a lump in his right breast. In early October, test results showed Leandro had breast cancer.
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