The Brown & White

Boobs. Girls have them, guys love them, and this month is all about saving second base.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), and it is celebrating its 25th anniversary. There is much to celebrate because NBCAM has become one of the most visible causes in the country, creating a national dialogue around breast cancer awareness and research.

Forget fall fashion trends - pink is the color everyone is wearing this month. Professional football players are playing with hot pink gloves, their coaches donning caps in team colors and of course, pink. Lehigh's Greek chapters and athletes are promoting the cause by wearing specially made pink Lehigh T-shirts. From the school bookstore to Target, it is relatively easy to find pink products to wear: wristbands, purses, gloves and hats. Pink is everywhere this month, but the cause is about more than the color. It is about the women.

Every three minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. That's 480 women a day and more than 3,000 a week. With an incidence rate like this, it's clear why so many people feel passionate about the cause. This year 192,370 women are expected to receive the diagnosis everyone dreads. Those women are mothers, wives, girlfriends, best friends and sisters. Many of you have already experienced the pain of watching someone struggle with this diagnosis. But for those who haven't, one day it could be someone close to you or it could even be you: Breast cancer is the second most deadly cancer in women and the second most common cancer.

Breast cancer, however, does not have to be a death sentence. All of the research and support provided by everyday health care professionals and advocates alike will one day dramatically reduce the number of deaths caused by this frightening disease - from 40, 610 expected this year to hundreds.

The pink products, races, T-shirts and events are more than what critics label as marketing gimmicks. Every little bit of support helps and every dollar counts, especially when one considers that the nonprofit support organization Living Beyond Breast Cancer earned a third of its annual budget through last year's NBCAM events, products and promotions.

Women do survive breast cancer. Supporting pink is supporting life. It takes courage, inspiration and determination to survive this cancer, and Breast Cancer Awareness Month exists because of its resilient survivors. I hope that, as every person passionately embraces the importance of this month, there will be many more women to applaud for their courageous battles against breast cancer.

Part of supporting the pink initiative this month is through raising awareness, and awareness about this disease is not only about knowing the statistics, but also about knowing how to prevent it. Detecting breast cancer at an early stage is the key to survival. When it is detected early on, individuals are at a significant advantage and are already winning the fight. We all remember the fliers slipped underneath our dorm door. They gave a step-by-step guideline about how to perform a self exam of our breasts.

For young women, the first simple step is to feel around the chest area for any unusual lumps. Also, according to the scientific journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, exercise is said to significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer. However, as women get older, mammograms are vital in achieving early detection.

It is easy for us gals to support this cause because we are stimulated by emotions and understanding. One day, this could be our breasts, our bodies.

But guys, this isn't a cause to be written off just because of gender, just because you think it can't happen to you - because it can. Breast cancer affects approximately 2,000 men each year and is often more fatal because men are not aware of this, and so they end up detecting the disease in very late stages.

Over the next few weeks you should take the time to donate a few dollars wherever you see a pink stand on campus. Throw on a pink ribbon or buy a pink NFL cap. But don't do it without taking time to remember the women who have gone through so much as a result of this disease. Support the initiative that will one day keep thousands of women you love, from ever having to experience the same physical and emotional pain.

After all, it takes every one of us to save the ta-tas.