October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

You owe it to the women you love — and if you're a woman, include yourself in that number — to learn all you can about this scourge that will affect one in every eight American women. The folks listed below would love to share with you what they've learned. The life you help save may be your wife's, your daughter's, your mother's, your grandmother's, or even your own.

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
The Breast Cancer Site
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
BreastCancer.org
The National Breast Cancer Coalition

As with all forms of cancer, early detection and treatment is crucial. Women of all ages need to learn self-examination techniques, and to discuss with their physicians their possible risk factors. Women age 40 and over, and younger women who are otherwise at risk due to familial history or other indicators (your doctor can help you decide), should get mammograms annually.

Four years ago last month, my wife was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. At the time, she was 34 years old. Thanks to prompt surgical, chemotherapeutic, and radiation treatment — and hundreds of prayers — KJ today is in remission and in excellent health. Trust me on this — I've done a lot of difficult things in my lifetime, but none tougher than telling my 11-year-old daughter that her mother had cancer. I pray you never have to have that conversation with someone you love. But until the day when we can say breast cancer has gone the way of the passenger pigeon, education is the most effective weapon we have.

And if you've a few extra bucks lining your wallet this week, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Breast Cancer Coalition will put them to excellent use.