October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My question to women over the age of 40 is have you scheduled your mammogram this year? If you haven’t, please don’t wait. Statistically, about 1 in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer has become the most common cancer globally in 2021 accounting for 12% of all new annual cancer cases worldwide.

Breast Cancer Awareness, early detection, and treatment is near to my heart. Many of you know that I am a 9-year breast cancer survivor. Early detection is key to minimal treatment; unfortunately, I skipped a year and ended up being diagnosed with Stage 2. Treatment required chemo, radiation, and a double mastectomy. I was asked to be one of this year’s ambassadors for Advent Health Foundation’s Pink on Parade. Given an opportunity to help my local community, I accepted immediately understanding the importance of early detection. This local charity provides early detection screenings, research, survivorship education programs, and wellness and lifestyle resources to support those impacted by breast cancer. The funds raised locally, stay local to support women in our community. This year’s event will be held on Sunday, October 9th, 2022. You can run, walk, and even bring your pet. It’s not too late to register!

So how did this photo session come to be? As the photographer for Coastal Neighbors cover and story, I wanted to spotlight women survivors for the October Issue; the theme was “Illuminating Stories of Survival, The Pink Sisterhood”. With the assistance of Danielle Anderson, Coastal Neighbors Content Coordinator and the amazing team at Advent Health Foundation’s Pink on Parade Army, we were able to recruit women that wanted to share their amazing stories of survival. The backdrop was at the beautiful Hammock Beach Resort. One was still ongoing treatment and two had just completed their treatments. We spent about an hour and a half together taking pictures and just celebrating with each other, each with their own battle scars and journey of survival. As one survivor battling cancer for the fourth time stated in her interview on sharing her thoughts, ” Pray, stay positive, have lots of patience , be at peace, be humble and kind, and do a good deed each day.” A common theme of each of their interviews was optimism, faith, and the understanding that cancer changes your life’s perspective. Let’s celebrate with my beautiful pink sisters another year of life and being cancer free. The future is bright!

Again, I ask, have you scheduled your mammogram this year?

https://www.breastcancer.org/facts-statistics

https://runsignup.com/Race/FL/PalmCoast/pink5k

https://www.adventhealth.com/pink-on-parade

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