Honoring Those Who’ve Battled Breast Cancer: Exemplars of Courage

Robin Roberts, Good Morning America news anchor and breast cancer survivor. 
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This October - like every October - we celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In the midst of our busy fall days, even at a time when our collective worries have never been seemingly greater, let’s not forget the fearless women around us who’ve battled breast cancer. Celebrity survivors like Robin Roberts, Cynthia Nixon and Sheryl Crow remind us that it can devastatingly affect anyone. More importantly, they and so many other radiant survivors in the world remind us that breast cancer can be defeated. 

Putting your health first

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Being proactive with your health, of course, is the best way to fight breast cancer. As per the CDC’s recommendation, this means regularly doing breast self-examinations and talking to your doctor about when to start getting regular mammograms. We must take care of ourselves before we can take care of each other!

More information on how to detect these signs early on: https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/screening.htm

How to do a breast self-examination:

https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/types/self_exam

Offering your support

There are also many nonprofit organizations working to make the experience of breast cancer much easier for every affected individual. While most every one is amazing, two, in particular, have inspired our team at Marcella:

Sisters By Choice provides more than 1000 free mammograms and breast exams to uninsured, unemployed and homeless women each year - and provides free educational seminars, workshops, and health fair screenings to promote breast cancer awareness.

https://www.sistersbychoice.org/

The National Mammography Program manages a network of partner medical facilities across the United States that provide grants for free breast screening and diagnostic services to those in need (low-income/uninsured/underinsured).

https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/national-mammography-program

At Marcella, we are grateful to those who have or who are battling breast cancer and so gracefully show us how to remain patient and persistent no matter what is thrown our way.  In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, we will be donating all profits from our hot pink & pale pink masks from October 21-28th to Sisters by Choice. We encourage all to learn more about the work undertaken by both them and the National Mammography Program.

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Notes 

1. Celebrity survivors
1. Cynthia Nixon, Robin Roberts, Sheryl Crow
2. https://www.healthline.com/health/celebrities-with-breast-cancer#11.-Robin-Roberts
2. Proactive healthcare sources 
1. Self-exam https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/types/self_exam
2. Mammograms, breast MRI https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/screening.htm
3. Nonprofits?
1. Sister’s Network
1. https://www.sistersnetworkinc.org/
2. https://theundefeated.com/features/sisters-network-is-the-only-national-black-breast-cancer-survivors-organization/
2. Sisters By Choice 
1. https://www.sistersbychoice.org/
3. African American Breast Cancer Alliance
1. https://www.youngsurvival.org/directory/breast-cancer/african-american-breast-cancer-alliance-inc-aabca