Nancy Jill's Cancer Alphabet: O

O is for one in eight. That’s the number of US women who will develop breast cancer in their lifetimes. One third of those will develop metastatic disease. If I am doing the math right (and I’m not sure I am because I never was particularly good at math) that means approximately 4% of women will develop metastatic breast cancer. Think of one hundred women who you know. Sisters, cousins, friends. Now think of four of them dying. One of them will be me. In one day in the US, 116 people, most of them women, die of metastatic breast cancer. In one year, 40,000 women die of metastatic breast cancer. Hispanic women die at the highest rates. Anyone can have the BRCA mutations regardless of ethnicity, although it’s most prevalent in Ashkenazi Jews. OVER 300,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. This is an epidemic. This is an EPIDEMIC. THIS IS AN EPIDEMIC.

We don’t need pink ribbons, glamorous bald head shots, 5k fun runs or pink plastic trash. Put all that money towards a cure. I’m not just begging for myself here. I’m begging for you, too. #metavivor #thisisnotpink #pinktober #dyingforacure