What Will YOU Do to End Breast Cancer?

It’s here. Pink-tober. Someone trademarked that. Can you believe it? What will they try to trademark next, our genes? Oh, right, those are taken. But I digress…

Breast Cancer Awareness month arrives with a blazing trail of pink, and if you’ve read anything I’ve written, you probably know exactly how I feel about it. It’s not good.

But today I offer you a glimmer of hope. In fact, I have ranted sufficiently (I think), and will strive to be optimistic this month. While I don’t think pink sales will make a damn bit of difference, there are still ways we can impact this disease.

Today’s effort is brought to you by the letter “L.”

As in Dr. Susan Love.

In the past, I’ve invited you and even pleaded with you to add your name to the growing “Army of Women,” a database of women who receive occasional emails about breast cancer studies so that we can try to get them filled. If you haven’t joined, you still can!! Just click here: Army of Women. We need women, men, those who have had breast cancer and those who haven’t. This is an equal-opportunity effort, and your commitment is simply to read about these studies.

Simple, right? Yes…but today I’m asking a little more. Today I’m asking you what you would give to cure breast cancer. Today I’m going to ask for something quite precious…your time. And you can be among the first to help!

Today the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation is launching the “Health of Women” study (HOW). It is, admittedly, more involved than signing up for Army of Women. There is a long-ish survey for you to complete, and the study will extend for at least 20 years to come. I know it’s asking a lot…but I think we all know it’s going to take a lot to cure breast cancer.

Who’s eligible? Men and women, 18 and older.

What’s involved? Mostly some online surveys that can be completed from your computer or your phone.

Why would we do this anyway? It turns out that the majority of people diagnosed with breast cancer have no known risk factors. One of the primary goals of HOW is to get beyond what we think we know, collecting an array of information about lifestyle, work, diet, family history, and medical history.

Full disclosure: I got a chance to sign up early. The initial survey took me about 19 minutes to complete. There will be future surveys as well. But 19 minutes? That’s worth it, right?

Then what? Well, in addition to adding to the database with future questions, the HOW study will enable us to gather information now from people who may have a future diagnosis. It’s a much surer way to evaluate what factors might have contributed. In addition, the data will be available to researchers around the world. And of course, your privacy will always be maintained; your data will not be identified with you.

One more question…what will you do to end breast cancer? 

Please…click the link and learn more! Health of Women Study.