Breast cancer awareness month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and organizations are lining up to raise awareness and celebrate some seriously strong survivors. Showing your support for breast cancer awareness is important year-round—and if you're looking for ways to support, we have a list to help you all out. 

What is Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

Just as a refresher, Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a yearly campaign designed to highlight this invasive disease. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with an average lifetime risk of developing breast cancer at 12%. There are about 300,000 cases diagnosed each year, with about 15% of those (40,000 people) dying from the disease each year. Another way of looking at it is that 1 in 8 women will have breast cancer, and 1 woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 2 minutes. In addition, contrary to what most people believe, men can develop breast cancer as well (though it is not nearly as common). Always keep in mind that screening for breast cancer begins at 40 years old (for average-risk women) with annual mammograms and that catching breast cancer early can save your life.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a great reminder to get screened for this potentially fatal disease and raise awareness for the cause until there's a cure. If you're interested in volunteering or donating funds, we hope this topic can give assistance. We have compiled a list of things that you can do to help contribute; some are more time-consuming, and some are simple enough to do in just a few minutes. We hope you'll take a moment to read through them and decide which ones you can do to help out this October and raise breast cancer awareness yourselves.

1. MAKE YOUR OWN PINK RIBBON!

This one is super easy to do. With just a quick stop at your nearest Michael's or Hobby Lobby, you can pick up the items needed to make your own pink ribbon all month. I think this is fun because you can buy different shades of pink, or even patterned ribbons to really stand out. You can make extras and hand them out to friends, family, and coworkers to get them to help raise awareness with you!

2. GET A NEW STETHOSCOPE

Our motto is you can never have too many stethoscopes, and you should definitely have a pink one for October. That being said, wouldn't you want to get one that also helps raise money for a good cause? Medelita has partnered with the American Breast Cancer Foundation to donate 5% of each pink stethoscope purchased during the month of October for breast cancer awareness. And there are two different shades of pink that apply to the donation! 

3. COOK, BAKE, AND EAT!

Cook For The Cure is a fundraising partnership between KitchenAid and Susan G. Komen that has raised over $10.7 million in the past 16 years through purchases of pink products, celebrity chef auctions, and home-based fundraising. Whether you need a new beautiful pink appliance for your kitchen, or just want to host a cooking party at your own home, KitchenAid is here to help you raise awareness. They also have this really cool program called pass the plate, where you make a meal and serve it on your special plate and then share it with someone special, who then passes it on to someone else. Plus you can register the plate so you can track where it's been - SO fun!

4. JOIN A BREAST CANCER AWARENESS WALK OR RUN

Now that we're done cooking and eating, maybe we should do some physical activity. The great thing about joining breast cancer awareness walks/runs is that you get to exercise and also meet so many great people doing it. If you're not an avid runner, don't sweat it, plenty of people prefer to walk instead. There are multiple options depending on where you live, with the most widely known one being the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life campaign. It's super easy to find an event (or two) near you and sign up to help out.

5. DONATE

If you don't have time to join an event or do some of the other activities but just want to help with a donation, you can join the hundreds of other companies that have done so. You can go directly to the American Cancer Society website, the American Breast Cancer Foundation website, the National Breast Cancer Foundation website, the Susan G. Komen website, or the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. All are legitimate and not scams, and your money will definitely be used in a good way. If you want more information just click on the links to see what they're all about.

6. FUNDRAISE FOR THE CAUSE

If you want to donate but also want to get others to help join you, fundraising is the best option, and there are plenty of ways in which you can do so (check these out too). A lot of the fundraiser options available include walks/runs, golfing events, art galas, sporting events, etc., but you can also create your own fundraiser if you want! If none of these are super appealing to you, you can buy items in bulk from this wholesale site toxdo.com and sell them to raise money that way instead.

7. GET INVOLVED YOURSELF

There is research all over the world to find out more about cancer and how we can stop it. If you know someone with breast cancer who wants to enroll in a clinical trial, there are plenty around. You can also learn more about breast cancer research here, or you can attend events to hear what the experts have to say in person. After all, knowledge is power, right?

8. SOCIAL MEDIA

Everyone knows that what goes on social media these days spreads like wildfire. That being said, use it to your advantage to spread the word about wearing pink and the multiple ways we can all support breast cancer awareness. Use your voice to let others know what they can be doing too!

9. IN OCTOBER, WE WEAR PINK

The entire month of October is now dedicated to wearing the color in order to help raise awareness for breast cancer, and as knowledge continues to spread, more and more people are joining the movement. So what does wearing pink really mean? It means that not only are we showing our support by what we wear, but we are also trying to spread understanding of what the color pink really stands for. You can support the cause by sporting the breast cancer apparel ahead. Wear your pink pride this month and beyond with the picks below:

Pink sunflowers standard t-shirt:

Bee kind bee loved premium women's tank:

In October we wear pink standard t-shirt:

Designed by Toxdo.com, these T-shirts and tanks say it all. Buy it for yourself or a loved one who is fearlessly battling breast cancer and is stronger than ever. It's perfect for the gal who always makes light of the situation or who just may need a little pick-me-up after a long day of treatment. If she needs a good chuckle, this will do it. 

Now that we have given you multiple different ways you can help raise awareness, please help participate in any way that you can. It is up to us to put an end to this terrible disease. We love you all, now let’s kick some breast cancer butt!