For many people, October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month means seeing more pink ribbons and football players in pink jerseys.
For survivors of the disease, the month can hold different meanings.
“I may hide from it a little bit in October,” Lisa Kamody, the assistant director of Learning Community Programs at Ohio University, said.
When meeting her on the street, a person would not know Kamody was diagnosed with breast cancer twice, was in treatment for almost two years and had more than 72 radiation treatments.
Kamody said she is glad Breast Cancer Awareness Month was started to raise consciousness about the disease. She supports it but takes a more “behind the scenes” role.
“I always tell people that I’m (more) a survivor of parenthood than I am of cancer,” Kamody, a mother of three daughters and two step daughters, said. “I don’t want it to define my life. ... I just have so many other things in my life. I don't want that to be my big hurrah, that I survived cancer.”
Shari Clarke, the vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion, was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago in October after a routine mammogram. She also said some of her best friends have been survivors of the disease and some have died because of it.
Between 2003 and 2012, the death rate among women with the disease decreased almost 2 percent per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ohio’s survival rate was 77.2 percent for women with the disease in 2013, according to the CDC, which was the sixth lowest survival rate in the U.S.
“Whenever October comes around I’m always missing friends, missing folks whose lives were just cut too short by this disease, wishing we had a major cure, but the earlier they catch it the better,” Clarke said. “I appreciate that ... there’s so much pink because it keeps it in front of us, front and center, so that if a woman does have a diagnosis she knows that there’s a community there to support her.”
Except for some types of skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the U.S., according to the CDC. In 2013, more than 230,000 women and more than 2,000 men were diagnosed with the disease.
Athens’ breast cancer rates for women were higher than state average of 120.3 out of 100,000 people in 2015, according to the Ohio Department of Health. The rate of breast cancer was 146.5 per 100,000 people in Athens.
Kamody said she suggests people go to routine mammograms and trust their instincts. She said she was trusting her instincts when she asked for a second opinion from a doctor after finishing her breast cancer treatment. The doctor diagnosed her with breast cancer again in her other breast on the first visit.
Tobie Newberry, a certified nurse practitioner with OU's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, said even though most people do not receive regular mammograms until age 40, people should become familiar with their breasts at a young age and perform breast self-exams so they are aware of any changes.
She also suggests people live a healthy lifestyle by eating nutritiously and refraining from drinking a lot of alcohol and smoking.
“I think (Breast Cancer Awareness Month is) a really good thing because it helps people to remember and know (about the diesease),” Newberry said. “Anytime there's reminders for people to get their screenings that’s a good thing.”
Clarke said any time she has the opportunity to share her story she does to spread awareness of the disease.
“Young women need to be aware too,” Clarke said. “We’re starting to see incidents of breast cancer in women much younger. ... We’re never too young to start taking proper care of ourselves.”
