Wednesday, October 2, 2013 The People-Sentinel Page 5A

Love

•Support•L

ife•

Hope•

Care

•Love

•Hea

lth

BreastCancerAwareness

BreastCancerAwareness

THINK PINK

THINK PINK

Norma Jean Easterling

Sharon Sinclair

Gloria Williams

Carolyn HanberryDelores Crawford

Bertha Darnell Dorothy Fenn

Ernestine Broomfield

Eleanor Bolen

Teressa Williams

Love•Su

pport•Life•H

ope•Care•Lo

ve•Health

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Carmen Cobb

Page 6A The People-Sentinel Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Deborah BennettAthena Brown

Jerino J. BrownGeorgia L. Carroll Delores Crawford

Grace CreechAngie DowdyGwen H. Dublin

Norma Jean EasterlingMarsha Frazier

Lana GriffinArie GuessBetty Hay

Nicole HayMelissa Jenkins

Sue JohnstonAnnette Joyner

Tricia KeelSherry Kinard

Bonnie Bodiford KingCindy LambertCheryl A. McHenryWanda MelvinKathie Messex

Etta MixonLinda Moore

Arie MurphyRetha Owens

Brenda PryorMarilyn Punzi

Sharon SinclairWilma ThomasNorma WaldropClemmie WebsterGloria WilliamsRita WilliamsTeressa Corbitt-WilliamsBeverly White

In Memory

Hope for a Cure

Gone but never forgottenCarolyn Allen

Gussie Green ArbanJo Ann Atwater

Minnie L. BartonFaye Blakeney

Dwynell Bridgmon

Debbie ChobanyVictoria ClarkeVelvie Connor

Helen W. DraytonDora Duncan

Martha Murdaugh-GadsonThelma Goode

Cleareatha JohnsonHazel S. Johnson

Janet Keller Emma Sue KlebeMargie Ann Lee

Jan Parler

Shirley ParlerJewel Hartzog Saylor

Martha SmylyPatricia Johnson Still

Antionette StorrMarie H. Thomas

Mary VojtechAudrey Webster

Debra Rowell WilsonRosemary WhiteAnn Salter YoungSherry ZawackiPeggy Zissett

www.aikenregional.comPhysicians are not employees or agents of this hospital.

KATHY VERENES

Breast cancer survivor since 2009

BUFFY ZORN

Breast cancer

survivor since 2010

SHIRLEY A. BROWN

Breast cancer

survivor since 2011

Read their stories at

#1001614530 (6col, 10.5in x 6in) 09/20/2013 05:08 EST

For more information or to set up an appointment please contact Laura Schmelter, Director of Rehab or Lynne Green, Director of Admissions at (803) 266-3229

1385594

#1001615142 (6col, 10.5in x 2in) 09/23/2013 10:09 EST

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 The People-Sentinel Page 7A

Angelene Little didn’t have time to worry when she found out there was a small lump in her breast.

It was July 1997, when she was diagnosed with breast can-cer after a regular mammogram exam. But Little, who was in her mid-70s, was already taking care of her husband and sister-in-law at her home on Burr Street. They both were suf-fering from se-vere illnesses and needed constant care.

“They were scared to death something was going to hap-pen to me,” Little said. So she made up her mind not to worry about the cancer and deal with it as quickly as pos-sible.

Wi t h i n a span of a few weeks, Little had a biopsy to remove the t u m o r a n d was on the op-erating table to have the breast fully removed.

Worrying wasn’t an option for Little

#1001612393 (6col, 10.5in x 2in) 09/18/2013 15:23 EST

Angelene Little, pictured here in her living room, has been cancer free for 16 years.

The surgery, performed by Dr. Khan at the Barnwell County Hospital, was on a Thursday. She came home Friday.

“I didn’t have time to worry about it. I just got it done and got it over with and got well as fast as I could,” she said.

Little “got along really good” after the surgery, she said. She didn’t go through chemotherapy and wasn’t put on medication.

She did need a little help around the house though. A woman who worked at the Savannah River Site, who Little had never met but who knew one of her sons, volunteered to come every day and dress her wound from the surgery. The woman, Julie Ward, came each day for three weeks.

Ward lives in Edisto Beach now, but Little said they still keep in touch.

“She’s a real close friend,” Little said.It was three or four months before Little was fully healed.

During that time friends and her children, who lived in the area, helped with household chores and taking care of her husband and sister-in-law, and neighbors brought food over to the house.

“This is a good town and has a lot of good people in it,” she said.

Little came to Barnwell in 1952 from Virginia with her first husband, Lacy Corell, after he took a job at SRS. She was born in Bozoo, West Virginia, a small farming commu-nity just north of the Virginia border and east of the New

River. The couple had four children. Corell died in 1966, and in 1980 Angelene married Lloyd Little.

Little said there was no history of breast cancer in her family before she was diagnosed. When the tumor was found, she had been taking estrogen – prescribed by her doctor due to low hormone levels – for about a year. Little said Dr. Khan told her the estrogen was probably the cause of the cancer.

“He said ‘you go home and you get rid of that stuff and

you throw it in the trash and don’t you ever take another one,’” Little said.

And that’s exactly what she did.Little was having her regular mammogram exams before

the diagnosis and has had them every year since. She has not had any complications since the surgery 16 years ago. She said having regular mammograms is the smart thing to do.

“If I had waited it would’ve been full blown before I would’ve ever found a lump,” she said.

Little, now 85, has friends who’ve also had breast can-cer, and she’s known women who passed away from the disease.

She still takes care of Lloyd, who is 93 and suffers from congestive heart failure and diabetes. Her sister-in-law, Doris Cashwell, passed away in 1998.

She’s converted the dining room and den of her home into a mini “hospital” so she can provide Lloyd the care he needs.

“You do what you have to do,” she said, “I do pretty good. I don’t worry about stuff. If something needs to be done I get up and do it.”

Little relies on her faith to get through the tough times.“I do what I can. What I can’t do I turn it over to God. Let

him deal with it,” she said.Little said she walks every day unless it’s too hot or pour-

ing down rain. She said her last checkup went well.“Got my blood work back. They wrote ‘great’ on it,” she

said.Asked what advice she’d give to someone diagnosed with

breast cancer, Little said you can’t feel sorry for yourself. “I would tell her to say a lot of prayers and get it done

and over with as fast as she can. Get back on her feet and keep doing what she was doing before.

“Do what you use to do, do what’s left to do. The rest will take care of itself,” she said.

Think Pink: Strength

Making stridesThe Community Up-

lift Program (C.U.P.) invites all Barnwell County residents to

help make strides against breast cancer during their 3rd annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk.

The walk takes place Saturday, Oct. 12, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. It begins at the Williston Town Hall and proceeds down West Main Street to Crane and returns back downtown.

“It’s all about promoting breast cancer awareness and noting how early detection saves lives,” said Etoya Myrick, the chairperson of the walk.

Ferlecia Cuthbertson, C.U.P. president, said they really want to make this a community event because cancer affects all kinds of people. “You may be unaware how many people in the community – people you see every-day – who are impacted by breast cancer,” she said.

“We’re all in this fight together,” added Myrick.The free event will include a short ceremony with

survivor stories and informative medical informa-tion prior to the walk. It will conclude with a balloon release honoring those affected by breast cancer.

For more information, registration forms or sponsor-ship opportunities, contact Ferlecia Cuthbertson at (803) 671-2249 or Etoya Myrick at (803) 427-2557.

jonathan vickeryStaff Writer

jonathan.vickery@morris.com

While blue is one of their school colors, Williston-Elko High School is thinking pink to raise money for breast cancer re-search.

T h e s c h o o l ’ s Future Business Leaders of Amer-ica group is sell-ing pink fans for $5 at football games and ten-nis matches. Stu-dents helped de-sign, make and sell the fans, which feature players’ names and a breast cancer awareness ribbon.

Blue Devils go PINKjonathan vickery

Staff Writerjonathan.vickery@morris.com

Teacher Dana Depew said she got the idea after a recent football game where it was hot due to the stands being

packed with people. “I said ‘Man, I wish

I had a fan,’” she recalls.

Landrea Mor-ris, a tenth grad-er, said the proj-ect is especially meaningful to her because her aunt is a breast cancer survi-vor. They are also

selling ribbons in an array of pinks

and other bright colors for people to wear for a minimum donation of $1. They hope to hold

a pink b a k e s a l e t h i s month too.

“ I t ’ s o u r way of t ry ing to help o u t , ” s a i d Depew, adding h o w their “students are al-ways involved in com-munity service proj-ects.”

The proceeds will be split between the FBLA, athletic program and Georgia Regents Univer-sity cancer center.

David Purtell/Staff Writer

David purtellStaff Writer

david.purtell@morris.com

Page 8A The People-Sentinel Wednesday, October 2, 2013

For one local cancer sur-vivor, a positive attitude has made all the difference in her recovery and her battle

against breast cancer. Singing her way into each chemother-apy treatment, Beverly White faced a devastating diagnosis with a smile and a positive attitude. “Chemo in. Cancer out,” became her motto.

Beverly was diagnosed on June 14, 2012, with an aggres-sive form of breast cancer. She told her mother-in-law and her husband the same day she found out. Her children she would wait to tell, one of them, not for months.

“One of my main priorities of my initial cancer diagnosis was protecting my family and friends from the pain I was feeling,” Beverly said.

Her children, Brittany, 27, Darrell, 22, and Taylor, 20, would eventually find out what their mom was going through and would become some of her most important caregivers.

She kept her diagnosis a secret from other family, friends and most of her co-workers as well.

Beverly’s cancer was found not because she found a lump or had something suspicious happen to her breast. She just had pain. The pain, over a month’s time, worsened. Because she just had her annual mammogram in January, the pain a few short months later really didn’t concern her too much to begin with. One of her doctors even told her it could not be cancer because there was no pain with cancer.

Knowing something was just not right, she had another mammogram. This time it showed something was there. She was sent for a biopsy on Friday of that same week. She was scheduled to return to her family doctor on Monday to get the results, but on Saturday she received a phone call that would change her life.

“The nurse said, ‘Mrs. White, you do have cancer,’” Beverly recounted.

“I never wanted anyone else to be upset,” she said of her reason for keeping her diagnosis a secret for months. “I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me.”

For weeks, Beverly said she asked God, “Why me?”“I didn’t have any grandkids yet. I still have living to do,”

she recalls pleading with God.“I did a lot of silent cries in my shower and was able to

relieve a lot of tension and anxiety. I usually felt really good and positive about my outlook after a good shower cry,” she said.

After a little self pitty, Beverly said she picked herself

ways to keep cancer from taking the joy out of her life.She said she and a friend, Ferlicia, had been planning

Ferlicia’s wedding vow renewal ceremony for months. The wedding was to take place last September just one day after one of her chemo treatments.

After chemo on Fridays, Beverly said she would “crash” on Saturdays.

“It’s that feeling of the medicine coursing through you,” it’s killing bad cells but also killing good cells, she said.

Treatment, crash.But not this week. There was a wedding to attend.Beverly not only attended and participated in the wed-

ding, she attended the reception as well, although her family encouraged her to head home and rest.

“I didn’t want to feel defeated,” she said. “I wasn’t going to let cancer take those moments away.”

Even though the consequences stared her in the face, Bev-erly stood tall and even posed a victory pose in her wedding attire after the event.

Then the crash.“I went to sleep around 8 p.m. (Saturday), and didn’t wake

up until 3 a.m. Monday morning,” she said.While her physical strength may have been depleted, her

victory over the treatment’s side effects would give her ad-ditional strength to keep fighting.

“From day one, I claimed healing,” she said. “I had no family history but there had to be a reason for this.”

“Every night, no matter how bad I felt, I repeated the words, ‘By his stripes I am healed,’” she said.

To help her through her cancer journey, Beverly said she has kept a journal, writing down all of the instructions and information from each doctor.

“You have to be your own advocate,” she said. “Have faith. Believe you are going to be healed,” she said.

“When I received my breast cancer diagnosis I remember getting an empty feeling in my stomach and I felt like I had been ran over by a train. Hearing the ‘C’ word made me feel powerless because up until this point everyone I knew that had had cancer was no longer living. I questioned God and doubted if I would make it through this devastating disease,” Beverly said. “I did a lot of soul searching, a lot of praying and reading. Then I realized just how much God had my back and from that point on I was on a mission to save my life while helping as many people as I could along the way.”

“I had so, so much support. I had support from everywhere. I don’t know how I would have gotten through this without them. I just can’t thank everyone enough,” Beverly said of her family, friends and co-workers.

One relative sent her a special blanket. “She told me it was anointed,” Beverly said of the blanket

she still holds close.Former high school classmates also joined her fight.Beverly graduated from Blackville-Hilda High School in

1980 and her high school classmates, even some she had not seen in years, held fundraisers and contributed financial donations for her medical expenses.

Her daughters armed her with a Walmart gift card and her family would make contributions to the card so when she had to purchase medications, she would have the money ready.

Some of her support has more of a spiritual nature. Beverly said she lost a nephew, Ryan, who was only 14-years-old at the time of his death. While still grieving his loss, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She said she has often talked with Ryan, which has brought comfort to her.

“Having been through breast cancer, I know how impor-tant it is to live each day to the fullest. I could have easily chosen to be depressed and feel sorry for myself, but I chose to be thankful for all the positive things in my life. I decided not to sweat the small stuff, or the big stuff for that matter, because at the end of the day nothing matters except God, my spiritual journey, my children, my family and friends,” Beverly said.

“I continue to suffer from many side effects of breast cancer, however, I am currently in remission and plan to stay that way for a very, very long time.

“Never stop believing. There is always hope.”

Chemo in, Cancer outThink Pink: Hope

up and decided to fight this disease.

“I just faced it head-on,” she said.

Now, that is something she has incorporated into her everyday life.

(Cancer) “is the worst, best thing that has ever hap-pened to me,” Beverly said. “Ev-erything is just different after a diagnosis.”

Beverly worked at Macedonia El-ementary School with the Save the Children program at the time of her diagnosis and she continued to work through most of her treatments.

She said her support system was and still is tremendous.“I tried to work through it,” she said. “They (school co-

workers) were awesome.”Her support system stretched beyond regular family and

friends to her beautician and to her high school classmates.As the cancer treatments started to take its toll on her hair,

Beverly said she wanted to face that obstacle head-on too.She called her beautician and set an appointment.“She closed her shop for me,” Beverly said, so that no one

else would be in the shop at the time.Beverly made the decision to have her head shaved before

the cancer could take her hair. It was one way to take some control, she said.

Beverly would have 19 weekly rounds of chemotherapy and 33 straight days of radiation.

“Chemo had me really sick,” she said, and the radiation caused her to be very weak and exhausted.

Beverly lost 13 pounds in one week and another seven the next week.

“Peanut butter became my friend,” she joked. “I made myself eat something, even though I was sick. I didn’t want to look like a real cancer patient.”

But through the sickness and exhaustion, Beverly found

With two grandparents battling breast cancer, Dalton Sandifer decided to do something to help.

The 13-year-old is braiding bracelets out of pink and black, and sometimes camouflage, paracord to raise money for the American Can-cer Society. The seventh grader at Jeffer-

son Davis Academy came up with the design and is selling them for $5 each.

“I think it’s fabulous,” said his mother, Kitty

Sandifer, adding how her son has always been crafty.Kitty said Dalton is trying to teach her how to make

the bracelets. That might not be a bad idea as Dalton has orders for at least 40 bracelets to fulfill.

Two of those orders come from people very special to him, his grandmother, Kat Yearry, and step-grandmother, Karen Sandifer. They are both battling breast cancer and a r e t h e inspiration for the bracelets. “They

want one and thought it’s cool,” said Dalton, who is also doing it to remember his great-grandmother,

the late Marie Thomas, who had breast cancer.

The recent breast cancer diag-noses were a “shocker” for the family, said Kitty, who encour-

ages all women to be proactive in their health. “Everybody needs to go get checked and make sure they don’t have anything,” she

said. To order a bracelet, call Kitty Sandifer at (803)

793-7906.

Giving back: One band at a timejonathan vickery

Staff Writerjonathan.vickery@morris.com

170 N. Elko Street

P.O Box 367

Williston, S.C 29853

E-Mail: folkfuneralhome@tds.net

Website: www.folkfuneralhome.com

Folk Funeral Home, Inc.and Crematory

Billy A. Williams, Jr.Billy A. “Brett” Williams, III

Letitia W. Stillinger

Phone: (803)266-3434 (803)266-7454 Fax: (803)266-5400

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Beverly White with her annointed blanket and framed cards she received while battling breast cancer.

Susan C. Delk/Managing Editor

Susan C. DelkManaging Editor

susan.delk@morris.com

Shaving her head was one way Beverly White was able to take some control during her breast cancer battle.

Contributed photo

Wednesday, October 2, 2013 The People-Sentinel Page 9A

Self ExamsWomen recognize the importance of living a

healthy lifestyle, which includes conducting self-exams to detect for breast cancer. Breast self-exams are vital to discovering abnormalities, including lumps or tenderness, in the breasts.

Self-examination increases the chances of early de-tection of breast cancer. John Hopkins Medical Center states that 40 percent of diagnosed breast cancers are detected by women who feel a lump.

Doctors urge women to conduct monthly self-exams to familiarize themselves with the look and feel of their breasts, which enables them to more readily recognize any abnormalities that may indi-cate illness. There are a number of ways to conduct a breast self-exam, and women are urged to find the method they feel is most comfortable for them.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., of-fers these tips for conducting a breast examination at home.

* Examine breasts in the shower. A breast examina-tion can take place in the shower while you are wash-ing. The shower is a convenient place to conduct an exam since you already have removed your clothes. NBCF says you should use the pads of your fingers and move around your entire breast in a circular pat-tern, moving from the outside to the center, checking the entire breast and armpit area. Check both breasts each month for any lumps, thickening or hardened knots. If you find a lump, visit your physician for an evaluation.

* Conduct an examination in bed. The breast tissue will naturally distribute over your chest wall and ribs when you are lying down. NBCF advises you to place a pillow under your right shoulder and your right arm behind your head. Using your left hand, move the pads of your fingers around your right breast gently in small circular motions covering the entire breast area and armpit. Squeeze the nipple and check for discharge or lumps. Then repeat the process on the left breast.

* Conduct a visual examination. Standing in front of the mirror, you can look at your breasts with your hands at your side and over your head. Look for any differences between breasts. Many women find that their breasts are not exactly the same shape or size, but unusual dimpling or taut or thick skin may be indicative of a problem.

Should any lumps or abnormalities be discovered during an examination, a woman should not panic but schedule an appointment with her doctor for a more thorough examination, which may include a mammogram or ultrasound to map out images of the breast that may be hidden to the naked eye.

Breast self-examinations are an essential element of a healthy lifestyle for women. Early detection of breast cancer vastly improves survival rates, and self-examination is often the most effective way to detect breast cancer early on.

How to keep watch for breast cancer

Four ways to reduce your breast cancer risk

Think Pink: Awareness

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a perfect time to take steps to help lower your risk of devel-

oping breast cancer. About 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer at some point

during her life. While you can’t change some risk factors—genetics and aging, for example—there are things you can do that may lower your breast cancer risk. Here are 4 ways to help protect your breast health.

Watch your weight. Being overweight or obese increases breast cancer risk. This is especially true after menopause and for women who gain weight as adults. The major source of estrogen for postmenopausal women is not the ovaries, but fat tissue.The increased risk may be due in part to more estrogen being made in fatty tissue.

If you’re already at a healthy weight, stay there. If you’re carrying extra pounds, try to shed some. There’s evidence that losing weight may lower breast cancer risk. One easy goal to get started is to try losing 5 to 10 percent of your current weight over 6 months. For most women, that means dropping just half a pound per week.

Exercise regularly. Many studies have found that exercise is a breast-healthy habit. As lit-tle as 75 to 150 minutes of brisk walking each week has been shown to lower risk. Ramping up your exercise routine even more may lower your breast cancer risk even further.

The American Cancer So-ciety recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 min-utes of vigorous activity each week. (Or a combination of both.) And don’t cram it all into a single workout – spread it out over the week.

Limit alcohol. Women who have 2 or more alcoholic drinks a day have about 1½ times the risk of breast cancer compared to women who don’t drink at all. Follow the American Cancer Society’s recommendation of no more than 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men. A single drink amounts to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1½ ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits (hard liquor).

Avoid or limit menopausal hormone therapy. Taking hormones such as estrogen and progesterone had long been used for night sweats, hot flashes, and other trouble-some symptoms of menopause. But in 2002, researchers found that postmenopausal women who took a com-bination of estrogen and progestin were more likely to develop breast cancer. Breast cancer risk appears to return to normal within 5 years after stopping the combination of hormones.

Talk with your doctor about all the options to control your menopause symptoms, and the risks and benefits of each. If you do decide to try HRT, it is best to use it at the lowest dose that works for you and for as short a time as possible.

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According to Breastcan-cer.org, one in eight Ameri-can women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. Though this figure is based on American women alone, it’s safe to say millions of women across the globe face a similar fate.

While organizations such as the Susan G. Komen for the Cure have been instru-mental in raising aware-ness of breast cancer, many people remain largely unin-formed about breast cancer and what, if anything, they can do to reduce their risk. But the more people un-derstand breast cancer the more formidable a foe they become for this potentially deadly disease.

What is breast cancer?Breast cancer is an un-

controlled growth of breast cells. According to Susan G. Komen For the Cure, between 50 and 75 percent of breast cancers begin in the ducts, which carry milk from the lobules to the nip-ple. Between 10 and 15 per-cent of breast cancer cases begin in the lobules, which are the milk-producing glands of the breast. Over time, these cancer cells can invade nearby breast tissue and may even spread into the underarm lymph nodes, which give the cancerous cells a pathway to the rest of the body.

Are there different types of breast cancer?

Breast cancer can be in-vasive or noninvasive. In-vasive breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells from within the ducts or lobules break out into nearby breast tissue. When this occurs, the cancer cells can spread to the lymph nodes, which may allow them to spread even further throughout the

body to organs like the liver and lungs and to bones. Noninvasive breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells grow within the milk ducts but have not spread to near-by tissue or other parts of the body. But noninvasive breast cancer can develop into invasive cancer.

Are there warning signs of breast cancer?

There may be no initial warning signs of breast cancer. A developing lump on the breast may be too small to notice, which only highlights the importance women must place on rou-tine breast cancer exams. A mammogram, for example, is an X-ray of the breast that might detect symptoms of breast cancer that women did not notice. When such symptoms are detected, then further testing can be conducted to determine if breast cancer is present.

Women or their physi-cians also might detect breast cancer before a breast exam. A lump or mass on the breast can be detected during a self-exam or on a routine doctor visit. But the American Cancer Society notes that several unusual changes in the breast may also be symptomatic of breast cancer. These chang-es include:

* breast pain* a lump in the underarm

area* nipple discharge other

than milk* nipple pain or the nipple

turning inward* redness, scaliness or

thickening of the nipple or breast skin

* skin irritation or dim-pling

* swelling of all or part of the breast

What are the risk factors for breast cancer?

Some risk factors for breast cancer are beyond a person’s control. You can’t stop aging, you have no way of changing your fam-ily history, and there’s noth-ing you can do about your own medical history. How-ever, there are risk factors for breast cancer that are within your control.

* Alcohol consumption: Alcohol can affect a wom-an’s ability to control blood levels of estrogen, which can increase her risk for breast cancer. Studies have indicated that the more al-cohol a woman consumes, the greater her risk of breast cancer becomes.

* Diet: Researchers often cite diet as a risk factor for various cancers, and breast cancer is no excep-tion. However, there are no specifics as to which foods increase a person’s breast cancer risk. But studies have shown that eating a lot of red and/or processed meats may increase a person’s risk of developing breast cancer. Low-fat diets that include lots of f r u i t s a n d v e g -etables may reduce your risk of d e v e l o p i n g many diseases, in-cluding breast can-cer.

* Exercise: How often a person exercises may in-crease or decrease his or her risk of de-veloping breast cancer. Studies have indicated that exercise can re-duce breast cancer risk, and the ACS recommends that both men, who are not

Addressing the basics of breast cancerimmune to breast cancer, and women get between 45 and 60 minutes of physical exercise five or more days per week.

* Weight: Being over-weight is a significant risk factor for breast cancer, especially for women after menopause. Higher estro-gen levels increase a per-son’s risk of breast cancer, and estrogen levels increase when a person has more fat tissue. Maintaining a healthy weight pays various dividends, not the least of which is reducing your risk of breast cancer.

Thanks to various orga-nizations promoting breast cancer awareness and re-search, many individuals have at least a basic knowl-edge of the disease. While knowledge alone cannot prevent the onset of breast cancer, it may help men and women better protect them-selves and their loved ones from a disease that afflicts millions of people across

the globe each year.

ContributedAmerican Cancer Society

www.cancer.org