August 16th is the kickoff for the “Real Men Wear Pink” campaign, which raises awareness about breast cancer. Male community leaders and figures from around the country wear pink to support survivors of breast cancer and raise funds to continue research into finding a cure for the disease. Men pledge to wear pink all through the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We’re happy to announce that Michael Wild will be one of the men featured at the August 16th kickoff! Here’s a little more about Real Men Wear Pink and the cause it supports.
More About This Important Cause
Real Men Wear Pink gets men involved in what has been predominantly, and inaccurately, thought of as a woman’s issue. In reality, families of breast cancer sufferers are affected as well (not to mention that men themselves, though a tiny percentage, can actually get breast cancer too). Participants in Real Men Wear Pink make several commitments to help win the fight against breast cancer. These commitments include wearing pink all during the month of October, using social media to raise awareness about breast cancer and the need to continue to fund research, and raising at least $2,500 to donate to the American Cancer Society, which sponsors Real Men Wear Pink.
Pink has always been thought to be a feminine color, but Real Men Wear Pink has shown that it is not. Pink became the color for breast cancer awareness after participants in the Komen New York City Race for the Cure® received pink ribbons in 1991. Since then, the color has stuck, and Real Men Wear Pink demonstrates support for breast cancer survivors and their families by showing that wearing pink can be “a guy thing” too.
Seeing the Early Signs
There is a lot of information available on the American Cancer Society website (among many others) about breast cancer, but here are some important facts and statistics, curated from the nonprofit BreastCancer.org, to know about this disease:
First, invasive breast cancer will develop in one in eight women (that’s 12.4%) over the course of her lifetime. In 2018, this number will reach 266,120 new cases. The number of new cases of invasive breast cancer has gone up and down over the years, but, since 2000, the overarching trend has been an increase in cases.
Second, this form of cancer kills more women than any other type of cancer, with African American women under 45 being at the highest risk of mortality. Right now, over three million women in America possess at least some family history of breast cancer. Family history, lastly, is a major indicator of breast cancer. If you have a close relative that has the disease, your chances of contracting it are very high when compared with someone with no family history.
Though scary, these statistics and others form an important picture to understanding the seriousness and severity of breast cancer across the country, highlighting why campaigns like Real Men Wear Pink are so important.
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Breast cancer affects thousands upon thousands of women. The Real Men Wear Pink campaign has managed to help many people, both on a personal level and a societal level, by raising awareness and money to battle breast cancer. There will be a cure one day, and the more attention and funding we can raise for this fight brings us that much closer to helping find a cure. In the meantime, aiding survivors and their families is something we can do right now, today.