What is it that us collegiettes love about October? The changing leaves and crispness in the air perhaps, or fall boots and chunky sweaters — maybe pumpkin spice lattes? Or, oh, I don’t know, that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month!
Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard, but how much do you really know about breast cancer? Let’s do a quick true or false.
T/F Most breast cancer is in the body five to eight years before it is detected.
T/F Men can get breast cancer.
T/F An estimated 220,000 women and men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.
T/F Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of death in women worldwide.
T/F 1 in every 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in a lifetime.
Answers? Every statement above is true. However, there is a lot of great stuff going on this month, and all the other months, at Davidson to try and make those truths less true.
In particular, there is Connor House’s Bosom Buddies fundraiser, which raised over $106,000 for breast cancer research last year, making Bosom Buddies the most successful fundraising event in Davidson history. And under the direction of Polly Ukrop ’15 and Pooja Parikh ’15, the women of Connor are striving to only increase the success.
The money Bosom Buddies raises goes to Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Detection Test, a project out of Greensboro, NC that focuses solely on finding a test to intercept and detect breast cancer earlier—before the five to eight years the cancer can go undetected that is. Friends uses the money from sponsors such as Connor to supply researchers with the funding required to find this test. An earlier test may “prevent invasive surgery, minimize treatment and dramatically increase survival chances,” so it is no wonder that Friends is so dedicated to speeding the breast cancer diagnosis. An earlier test can change those facts numbered above.
So now how can you get involved? While this year’s Bosom Buddies gala isn’t until March, it is October now, so Connor House is sponsoring a number of events for both breast cancer awareness and to start raising money for Friends. Stay tuned for soccer games, lecture series, and of course the annual Drink Pink (it’s at T. Mac this year if that’s any additional incentive to come) and be sure to check out Connor’s website for dates and additional details. Because, as I like to say, everything I do, I do for the bosoms.