MAHONING VALLEY Cancer events slated

Local organizations prepare activities to mark October's national Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Mahoning Valley American Cancer Society has scheduled several activities during October, national Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Awareness is an essential element in the fight against breast cancer, and though death rates have declined an average 1.8 percent a year since 1989, the incidence rates of breast cancer has been level for that period. Breast cancer remains the most common cancer to be diagnosed in women, according to ACS.
This year, about 192,200 women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer nationally, including 8,900 in Ohio. Nationally, about 40,600 women will die from the disease, including 1,900 in Ohio.
Helpful programs: Mahoning Valley ACS, which includes Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, has several volunteer programs to aid in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.
Tell A Friend is a peer counseling program in which trained volunteers contact five women they know who may need a mammogram and provide information and assistance.
For women diagnosed with breast cancer or concerned about the disease, there is Reach to Recovery, a visitation program that provides support and information about breast cancer.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month grew out of the efforts of former First Lady Betty Ford, a breast cancer survivor, and her daughter, Susan Ford Bales, to raise national interest about the importance of screenings and self-examinations.
XFor more information about breast cancer, call the ACS toll free at (800) ACS-2345 or visit its Web site at www.cancer.org.
alcorn@vindy.com