October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and our meeting at the Country Club on October 16th at 9:45 will feature Dr. Brian Heller of the Southern Cancer Center who will speak to us about the importance of diagnosing and treating breast cancer. Did you know that the new building of the Southern Cancer Center is only 1 mile from the Lawson entrance to Lake Forest and only about 2 miles from the entrance by Home Depot? Their new office opened on September 6th on Hwy 90 just past its junction with Hwy 13. They also plan to have a blood drive on October 24th at office as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Dr. Heller is a native New Orleans, trained at LSU and served as a physician in Iraq; I hear he has some interesting war stories as well. However, he will be talking to us about breast cancer, which is a very important topic especially since over 184,000 new cases of new breast cancer have already been diagnosed this year. In addition, just so far this year there have been 41,000 deaths due to breast cancer. Almost all cases involve females but you might be surprised to know that men are diagnosed with breast cancer as well. It is the 2nd most common type of cancer of American women, lung cancer being the first due to the increase in women smoking.

Most cases of breast cancer occur in women over the age of sixty and it is not common before menopause, but it also strikes the young with devastating results. Risk factors for breast cancer are having menses before the age of 12, menopause after the age of 55, hormone replacement therapy with estrogen plus progesterone, lack of physical activity and obesity after menopause. Protective factors against breast cancer are things that decrease the body’s exposure to estrogen, such as exercise, pregnancy, breast-feeding, surgical removal of the ovaries or prophylactic removal of the breasts.

Sounds like a serious topic, doesn’t it. It is but it is also one that we all need to know more about to protect ourselves and our daughters or nieces or friends. We will still have a great lunch and a good time. Looking forward to seeing you there!