EDITORIAL: Take action to fight breast cancer

Today’s paper has a different look, one that we have once a year.

In continuing a tradition that has been going for eight years now, today’s edition is The Albany Herald’s “Pink Paper.”

Each year, we do this for a reason — to raise awareness about breast cancer and to help raise money to battle this cancer that affects the lives of so many women.

The hope is that the pink paper will prompt women who have put off having that annual mammogram or who are trying not to think about a sign that something might be wrong to take action. If one life is saved because a woman gets a screening or goes to see her doctor with her concerns, then the effort is worth it. The same is true if that test or doctor’s visit simply serves to relieve concerns.

There also is hope that the emphasis on breast cancer awareness will lead to awareness of other cancers as well. Breast cancer happens in men, too, though it’s unusual. If a man is prompted to get checked for another more common form such as colon cancer, then that also is a measure of success.

The fact is that cancer caught in its earliest stages is the most likely to respond well to treatment and extend life.

Cancer, in any form, is a scary word, one that will be heard quite often in October, which has been designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Treatments have improved and survival rates have, too, but few words bring the same type of dread that the word cancer does. Each of us knows someone — in many cases, someone we love or deeply care about — who has battled this disease. It is an illness that touches nearly every life in America in some way.

Our best defense against cancer is knowledge, from knowing the signs and knowing when to take action to the knowledge of the doctors and researchers who spend so many of their waking hours battling it.

Knowledge can help a woman lower her risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note several things that can be done to lower the chances of developing breast cancer, including keeping a healthy weight, exercising at least four hours a week, getting sufficient sleep, limiting alcohol consumption, avoiding exposure to carcinogens and chemicals that interfere with the normal functions of the body, limiting exposure to radiation from medical imaging tests (x-rays, CT scans and PET scans) if they’re not medically necessary, and breastfeeding infants if possible.

In addition, the CDC says women who have have been told to take hormone replacement therapy or oral contraceptives should discuss risks with their doctor. Women who have a family history of breast cancer or inherited changes in their BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes should talk to their doctors about more ways to lower their risk.

A great deal of progress has been made, but more is needed. The people and businesses who supported this pink paper are doing their part by helping raise awareness, as well as funds needed for research. None of that, however, can take the place of a woman taking action to ensure her own health.

If you’ve been putting off an overdue mammography, get it done. If you think something is wrong, go see your doctor. If your wife, mother, grandmother, girlfriend, sister, significant other, niece, aunt or friend has been putting either of those off, nag her until she take care of it.

This is something that should not be put off, for your sake and the sake of those you love.