When football players wear pink socks or hockey players have pink tape on their sticks, what do you think of?
Though breast cancer is rare in young women, it is now on the rise. According to the National Cancer Institute, younger women developing advanced breast cancer has increased by two percent and is expected to increase over the next few decades, which may make millennials afraid.
Living in constant fear, as a woman, it is frightening that the numbers keep increasing for the generation of college students that will be affected by the time they reach the ages of 20 to 30 years old. All college students and women now should have yearly mammograms and self examine their breasts once a month.
According to the American Cancer Society, in America, breast cancer affects one in eight women in their lifetime. During this year alone, about 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 62,930 noninvasive cases will be diagnosed in 2019 alone. But the scary part of 2019: 41,760 women will die of breast cancer.
Growing up with the fear that breast cancer will affect millions of my generation is terrifying.
Many women do not want to run the risk of getting it when they grow older, so they take extreme measures. Some have started to put their chances into plastic surgeries and to remove their breasts, but most breast cancer is caused due to genes.
As a woman, this fear is always present in my mind. This cancer takes a toll on some women because it dictates their life, making them feel like they can never be themselves again.
When women are struggling or being set back by sexism in society, they tend to band together and be an unstoppable force. Women did this for suffrage, abortion rights, and now, the sisterhood should continue and fight with the women who have this cancer. Whether by walking in a 5K for breast cancer or supporting someone you know, these women are in desperate need of support, especially from other women.
As numbers rise in women being diagnosed this year and in the years to come, for the female college students, I encourage you to self examine your breasts once a month.
