If you’ve been a reader of this blog for awhile, you have seen the word “cancer” pop up more than we’d like. But cancer is, sadly, a fact of life. It is a fact of most people’s lives at some point. We are all affected. We lost Emily’s mom to ovarian cancer 25 years ago this month. Three years ago my dad battled (and beat!) prostate cancer. And when our friend E was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in January 2011, you, our wonderful readers, pulled together to help. And she is now cancer-free and doing great! Last month she even guest-posted here to raise ovarian cancer awareness.
Now, in October, we move to focus on the kind of cancer that takes the lives of more women than any other – breast cancer. I remember back in 2002 talking to my mother-in-law one day, when she casually mentioned she’d had something show on her mammogram, and was going to have a biopsy. “My mother had something like this, and it was benign,” she said, “I’m not really worried about it.” So I wasn’t, either. When the results of her biopsy came back that she did indeed have a cancerous lump in her breast, we were all shocked. We just didn’t expect it to be anything! Optimism was the word of the day!
Thank goodness, because my mother-in-law was good about getting her yearly mammogram, the lump was detected early, and was able to be removed with just a lumpectomy. She had to have six weeks of radiation but after that has been cancer-free for ten years!
The lesson here is obvious: early detection is HUGE. If you are of age and/or have family history of breast cancer, GET YOUR MAMMOGRAMS! And if you, like me, are still considered too young to need a mammogram, then DO YOUR SELF-EXAMS!
And we’re all being proactive about our own health, we can all take advantage of practical ways to help defeat breast cancer for good. This month, “Pinktober” as some call it, you will see store shelves lined with pink-packaged goods – products you use everyday that will send some cash to breast cancer research if you buy them. P&G Beauty is making it super-easy to SAVE while you GIVE: With their GIVE Hope brandSaver coupon inserts that were in the paper on Sunday October 2 and will be out again on Sunday, October 16th. For each GIVE Hope brandSaver coupon redeemed for the great P&G products you know & love, two cents will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation! The couponer in me LOVES this practical way to give back!
And that’s not the only way P&G is helping out this month: During the month of October, you can receive a $10 rebate with the purchase of $50 worth of P&G Beauty products, including Venus, Olay, Secret, CoverGirl, Nice ‘n Easy, Pantene, Safeguard and Ivory. You can find the rebate form here. Your rebate will also trigger a $10 donation to NBCF!! $10 for you and $10 for NBCF, just for purchasing these great P&G Beauty products!
Finally, here’s one more way to help, that the social media lover in me thinks is awesome! Simply “like” the P&G Beauty Facebook page, and for every “like”, P&G will donate ten cents to the NBCF to further their goal of EARLY DETECTION! How awesome is that?? Ten cents per like, I REALLY “like” that!
Do you have a breast cancer story to share? Leave a comment with how the disease has impacted your life, or what steps you take to make sure you are proactive about detection. I’ll be giving away a gift basket full of P&G Beauty products to one randomly drawn commenter! You can enter through Friday, October 14th at 5 pm EST. Good luck, and let’s make a difference in the fight to END breast cancer!
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I am being compensated for this post by the Motherhood, Hearst, and P&G. But it’s all me, baby!
