It’s Blog for Your Breasts Day

Today is the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  You know, when the world is pink-tinted and throngs of women (and some men thrown in) walk the streets of America to raise money for breast cancer research and treatment.

I bet that every reader here today can tell a breast cancer story.  You are a survivor, you had a cancer scare, you have a relative that has gone through cancer-hell, you lost your best friend to the disease.  I’ve had 5 immediate female relatives and several good friends fight breast cancer.  Some are survivors, some fought till the end.  I’ve done what I can to help but often wonder if there is more I could contribute.

About a year ago I discovered The Love/Avon Army of Women (AOW).  Here’s what they do:

“The Love/Avon Army of Women (AOW) is a unique program of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit breast cancer research organization. The program is funded through a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women.  The AOW provides an opportunity for men and women to take part in breast cancer research studies aimed at determining the causes of breast cancer – and how to prevent it. The AOW is a groundbreaking initiative that connects breast cancer researchers via the internet with women who are willing to participate in a wide variety of research studies.  The goal of the Army of Women is to recruit ONE MILLION MEN AND WOMEN of all ages and ethnicities, including breast cancer survivors and those who have never had breast cancer.”

So want to know what you can do?  The AOW wants all kinds of people to join with them in researching and preventing cancer. Young, old, thin, overweight, moms, singles, male, female, cancer survivors, never-had-cancer folks, all colors of the rainbow, healthy eaters, junk-food eaters, those on hormones, those not-on-hormones, menopausal, peri-menopausal, still-having-period-gals.  You get the idea.  The AOW wants YOU!  When you sign with the Army of Women, you are NOT signing up for a study.  You are volunteering to be placed in a database, to be sent invitations to participate in studies, or let others who would qualify know about the studies.  Participants will be involved in important research to discover THE CAUSE of breast cancer – how to stop it before it starts.  You are FREE to say yes or no to any study, and there is no cost to you to participate.  These are also not clinical trials.

I joined the AOW and  I get periodic emails asking questions to see if I qualify for a study or if I know someone who might be interested in participating.  Sometimes the study is just an internet study, sometimes the AOW is looking for people in a certain geographic area, sometimes the study is a physical study like a blood test or swabbing your cheek.  Here are some current studies:

The Milk Study: Using Breast Milk to Screen for Breast Cancer and Assess Breast-Cancer Risk

Sleep, Circadian Hormonal Dysregulation and Breast Cancer Survival

Yoga for Breast Cancer Survivors: Effects on Fatigue, Immune Function, and Mood

Combination of Low-Dose Anti-Estrogens with Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Prevention of Hormone-Independent Breast Cancer

1,ooo,ooo.

The Army of Women

is asking for this many volunteers.

Please consider joining The Army of Women and spreading the news to your family, friends, co-workers, blog readers.  Here are ways for you to help:

• Join AOW today

• Recruit for AOW

• Tweet for AOW using #WritePink

• Update your Facebook status with: “I signed up to STOP breast cancer before it STARTS.  Have you?  Join today at www.armyofwomen.org, then copy and paste this status update as your own”.

• Share YouTube videos. One Voice Million in the Mirror Walk in the Park

Please join me by joining The Army of Women today and let’s gang-up on breast cancer.

With special love to Mom, Grandmother Ethel, Grandmother Myrtle, Pam, Aunt Adelle, Patricia, Brenda, Syl, Jill.

All writing property of LoneStarLifer. 2010.

I blogged about a book written by a woman who had cancer in her family here.  And did you know there is a special cleaning service for those going through chemotheraphy, no matter what kind of cancer.