MARQUETTE, MI – (Great Lakes Radio News) – October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the American Cancer Society is kicking off their annual campaign encouraging women to get tested, and treated, for breast cancer.
Vicki Rakowski, the Chief Mission Officer at the A-C-S Great Lakes Division called in to The SUNNY Morning Show with Walt & Mike recently to discuss the effort.
Rakowski says some progress is being made with a two-percent decline in the mortality rate from breast cancer in Michigan, but there is still a long way to go. She says the survivorship of a woman with breast cancer detected and treated early is now 99-percent, or an extended life span of five years and beyond.
Rakowski says the problem is that only 61-percent of eligible women in Michigan are getting tested, and they urge yearly mammograms and clinical breast exams for women 40-and-older.
The A-C-S also recommends that women ages 20-to-39 receive a clinical breast exam at least once every three years.
LISTEN – Vicki Rakowski on Breast Cancer Awareness Month
VISIT – American Cancer Society website with more information