(This article focuses on breast cancer in women)
My heart wrenches each day to think of all the women out there in the midst of their heartbreaking journey.
Or those who are putting themselves back together once they get their remission papers.
Or the ladies just starting out on the journey of surgend chemo, blissfully unaware of how the war they're about to wage will forever change them and show them just how limitless their strength is.
And then there will be those just like my friend's mother, who recently lost her fight, even though she held on with so much hope and light "through the awful” as long as she possibly could, like the warrior she was.
So today, I pray for the ladies. All the ladies and their journey. I sink deep into my whole self and pray ceaselessly for the health and the battles of the women out there still fighting.
I pray for their health. I pray for their kids. I pray for their partners. I pray for their inevitable existential transformation. I pray that their doctors, nurses, coordinators, and techs become like family.
I pray for their comfort and ease. I pray for deft surgical hands and curious oncologists that are willing to try anything. But most of all, I pray that they can smile and laugh and have some peace on this journey through the heartache. Even if it’s for just a fleeting moment of reprieve.
The National No Bra Day, an annual holiday reportedly created in 2011 by breast cancer advocates to commemorate the October Breast Cancer Awareness Month, serves as a reminder for all women to be screened for breast cancer. It is observed annually on October 13.
For survivors and advocates of breast cancer, it is a day meant to promote breast cancer awareness and to help raise money for research. The theme for 2015 World Cancer Day was “Not Beyond Us.”
The third Friday in October each year is National Mammography Day, first proclaimed by President Clinton in 1993. On this day, or throughout the month, women are encouraged to make a mammography appointment.
This year, National Mammography Day is being celebrated today, October 16. However, Mammography screening is very costly and is feasible only in countries with good health infrastructure that can afford a long-term programme.
According to the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), a union of breast cancer organisations seeking to bring an end to the disease by 2020, there are 11 cancer registries in the country where information on cancer and tumor diseases are systemically collated. Nigeria does not have a national cancer policy. Radiotherapy is not generally available in public health institutions. There are currently nine radiotherapy centres and 30 oncologists. At the public hospitals, treatment is available largely at the tertiary level.
A report by the World Health Organization states that over 2 million Nigerians (the majority of them women) have died from cancer, and breast cancer is the leading cancer scourge affecting humans. The absence of proper cancer data in Nigeria has made it difficult to determine the actual number of people that die from cancer and those that are currently suffering from the disease.
Available statistics show that by 2020, cancer incidence for Nigerian males and females may hit 42 million and death rates may reach 72.7/100, 000 and 76/100,000 respectively. As one gets older, the risk increases. Over 80% of all female breast cancers occur among women aged above 50 years.
In media stories and on Internet postings, some factors have been widely rumored to increase breast cancer risk. Such factors include the use of antiperspirants, underwire bras, wearing a bra to bed at night, etc.
Breast cancer has been around far longer than bras. As far back as 1600 BC, the first mentions of cancerous breast tumors in humans were described on the Edwin Smith Papyrus. Bras, on the other hand, only replaced the corset in the late 19th century and weren’t made in their current form (with under-wiring or tight support structure) until well into the 1930s.
The National Center For Health Research say the rumor that bras cause breast cancer was fueled by a 1995 book by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer called Dressed To Kill. In it, the authors claim that women who wear underwire bras for 12 hours a day have a much higher risk of developing cancer than women who do not wear bras. They consider that, by restricting the lymph system, bras cause toxins to build up in the breasts that eventually result in cancer.
However, many professional bodies have rebutted this, pointing out that there is no evidence to support the argument presented in Dressed To Kill. The risks are similar no matter how many hours per day women wear a bra, whether the bra they wear has an underwire, or at what age they first began wearing a bra. The American Cancer Society (ACS) confirms “we do not know of any epidemiologic studies published in scientific journals that suggest bras directly contribute to breast cancer.”
In Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book, Love claims that the hypothesis about bras causing cancer stems from our desire to have control over areas of life where we have a lot of uncertainty or fear. People want something to blame, and also hope that by avoiding bras they can avoid breast cancer. While there are geographic variations in breast cancer rates, there are many factors, including diet, exercise, lifestyle, childbearing practices, as well as other behaviors and exposures that are more plausible explanations for these regional differences in breast cancer than bras.
In places where people have less access to medical care, breast cancer will not be diagnosed as often, even though it might be present. And because the risk of breast cancer increases as women get older, breast cancer rates will be lower in parts of the world where people die of other causes at younger ages, whether they have worn bras or not.
There are about 1.38 million new cases and 458,000 deaths from breast cancer each year, says a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women worldwide, both in the developed and developing countries. In low- and middle-income countries, the incidence has been rising up steadily in the last years due to increase in life expectancy, increase urbanization and adoption of western lifestyles.
The majority of deaths (269,000) occur in low-and middle-income countries, where most women with breast cancer are diagnosed in late stages due mainly to lack of awareness on early detection and barriers to health services. Early detection of the disease remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control.
When breast cancer is detected early, and if adequate diagnosis and treatment are available, there is a good chance that breast cancer can be cured. If detected late, however, curative treatment is often no longer an option. In such cases, palliative care to relief the suffering of patients and their families is needed.
Though no link has been proven between wearing a bra and your risk of breast cancer, it does make sense to ensure that the bra you are wearing is comfortable. Breast pain and tenderness can often be associated with poorly fitting bras so if you are experiencing this, it may be worth arranging a professional bra fitting. If you still have any concerns about your breasts during your routine breast self-exam, you should schedule a clinical breast exam with your doctor.
Personally, it was unclear what the actual goal of going bra-less was. In fact, a look at social media implied it was more of a platform to get pictures of women's breasts. What do you know! While you were busy uploading pictures of bare boobs on social media, a woman out there was struggling with cancer. I have no idea how NOT wearing a bra supports breast cancer. Does it help pay for research?
Read Causes, Symptoms And Prevention Of Breast Cancer.
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