October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This October marks the 26th year that the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month organization began promoting better awareness of breast cancer.

Comprised of national public service organizations, government agencies, and professional media associations, the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month actively provides information about breast cancer, as well as access to screening services.

The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month’s mission is clear: To educate and empower women so that they may take control of their own breast health to defeat, if not prevent, breast cancer.

Breast cancer afflicts approximately one in every eight women, and kills one in every 35. It is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women.

Heart disease, sadly, continues to represent a woman’s biggest health threat, robbing approximately 432,000 women of their lives every year.

Thankfully, due to early detection, breast cancer death rates have declined over the past two decades, especially in women under 50. There are currently more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors (those who have received or are receiving treatment) in the United States.
 
Breast Cancer Treatment is an Individual Decision
 
If you or anyone you love is in the difficult position of receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, please learn as much as you can about it.

Breast cancer certainly can be treated in a variety of ways, not just the traditional methods of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. If you choose to undergo conventional therapies, you should consider some form of alternative therapy that will compliment your healing.

The decision about which therapies are right for you can be difficult. Dr. Sinatra has always maintained that every woman needs to do her own homework and due diligence when it comes to choosing cancer treatments.
 
Dr. Sinatra has treated many women who have integrated strategies from both the conventional and alternative models. That is why he agreed to be interviewed for Suzanne Somers’ book Knockout.

Dr. Sinatra thinks Somers’ book is a strong message to women that when it comes to breast cancer, you’ve got to treat physical, spiritual and emotional aspects of the illness. He also personally knows many of the other experts in Knockout, and that many of their recommended alternative therapies do work.

For instance, Dr. Sinatra says that he would send his patients with breast cancer to Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski, of the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas. He also recommends Oasis of Hope centers in Irvine, California and Tijuana, Mexico.

While entirely different facilities, both Burzynski Clinic and Oasis of Hope offer wonderful options for women who want either less toxic alternatives to conventional breast cancer treatment, or alternative adjunctive therapies to support chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgical treatments. 

A Funny Answer to a Serious Disease
 
On October 10, 2010, more than 50 cartoonists will participate in breast cancer awareness month through the Sunday comics section in various newspapers.

I encourage you to be proactive about breast health and about supporting this event. To do so, you can visit www.comicsgopink.com to view the pink strips on October 10th, and to donate to any of the seven following breast cancer organizations (which are great information resources):

• American Cancer Society
• Dana Farber Cancer Institute
• American Association for Cancer Research
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• National Breast Cancer Foundation
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure  
• Lisa’s Legacy Fund

For more information about alternative solutions to today’s most pressing health concerns, visit Dr. Sinatra’s Web site.