Welcome to October, a month known to us all through the varying colors that make it special.
In a couple of weeks, it’s the mountains and the leaves. At the end, it’s the orange and black of Halloween. In between is the kaleidoscope that is the State Fair.
But starting today, as it has for better than a quarter of a century, pink is the overwhelming color that will dot our landscape. October is breast cancer awareness month.
The most-watched sport on television, pro football, is very much into the act, as are a fair number of high school teams. Fundraisers nationwide are plentiful.
We’re still searching for a cure, still needing dollars.
This calendar year, it is estimated more than 268,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be discovered in women. Another 2,600-plus will be found in men. Deaths will occur, an estimated 41,760 among women and 500 among men.
The research continues to help the fight, but those numbers are higher than previous years. In fact, that 268,000-plus includes an increase of a little more than 30,000 since eight years ago — or roughly the population of Bladen County.
Pink ribbons? Yes, they work.
In recent years, the American Cancer Society says, incidence rates have increased. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, only behind lung cancer. The chance a woman will die from breast cancer is 1 in 38.
The death rates dropped 40 percent between 1989 and 2016, the ACS says. The rate has been steady in women younger than 50 since 2007, and have decreased in older women.
It is believed earlier detections, a result of screening and awareness, has been instrumental in those statistics. Better treatments also exist.
Roughly 3.1 million live with breast cancer in the U.S. today.
We hope a pink ribbon finds its way to your lapel, or T-shirt, or some other place of prominence, and is displayed throughout the month. It originated in New York City nearly 30 years ago, when the Susan G. Komen Foundation handed out pink ribbons to participants in a race for breast cancer survivors.
Evelyn Lauder took it a step further a couple of years later, founding The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She chose the pink ribbon to symbolize breast cancer, a mark that is now universal.
Each month, there are worthy causes and awareness efforts. Pregnancy loss and infant loss, domestic violence, cyber security, clergy, even pork has a spot this month.
But likely most visible to us all will be the pink.
We need a cure. Cancer doesn’t have a bias; it affects all races, all ages and all socio-economic levels.
See the pink this month. Then find the best way to take an action.
