As most of you would be aware, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Some of you may have seen this on last night’s NFL Monday Night Football where one of the teams were wearing pink fluffy things over their shoes. Others may have noticed that local shops are supporting breast cancer charities by selling pink things (ribbons, enviro bags etc.)



Now, it may be seen as a bit ‘girly’ to wear pink or buy pink things (man up!). A lot of people are under the impression that breast cancer is only found in women. Breast cancer is after all, the second most common form of cancer in women – but men are also susceptible to developing the disease (the lifetime risk for males however, is only about 1 in 1000 according to the National Cancer Institute).

Often, routine breast checks are not done. It is so important for both men and women to make sure they check frequently so that any abnormalities can be detected early.

Not knowing much about the disease myself, I thought it would be wise to read up on it so that I understood a little bit more about what causes breast cancer, what to do if you have any concerns, and also how it is treated.

I found the following websites quite useful:

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
American Cancer Society
National Cancer Institute
PubMed Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

There was so much that I found on those websites that I hadn’t been aware of before. It is so important to raise awareness (and funds!) for breast cancer, and I am suggesting to our office that not only do this month’s fund raising efforts go towards breast cancer treatment/prevention, but also that everyone should wear something pink on dress down Friday’s in October – which probably won’t be too hard in our office because most of the guys wear pink by choice.

Different ways you can help raise funds/awareness for breast cancer:

• Host a 15 minute trivia game one lunch time;
• Bake Sale!
• If your office doesn’t have a dress down day every week, maybe you could speak to your boss about having people donate money to dress down (in pink!)

Let us know how you raised money and awareness for this great cause!!

And don’t forget…