Importance of breast cancer awareness goes beyond October

October may be breast cancer month, but it can strike at any time.

A group of local volunteers spent Friday delivering that message to the mall goers at Maurice’s Intercity Shopping Centre location, handing out special keychains adorned with tumor-sized nodules that indicate the importance of getting a mammogram.

Helen Knudsen said the disease doesn’t discriminate.

“It doesn’t matter what country you live in, how old you are, what your affiliations are,” she said. “So we have a program called the woman-to-woman ambassador which gives women the opportunity to speak with other women to encourage them to get breast screening.

“As you see from our shirts, find it before you feel it.”

Women taking part receive 10 Thingamaboob keychains to pass around and discuss the issue at coffee parties, church groups and other settings.

“It’s important that that information gets out and people are aware,” Knudsen said. “It affects everybody.”

While survivor rates have improved with better research, it’s still the second-leading cancer killer of women in Canada.

According to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, it’s estimated about 25,000 women will be diagnosed with the deadly disease in 2015, more than a quarter of all new cancer cases in women across the country. That’s about 68 per day.

About 5,000 women will die from breast cancer this year, 14 per cent of all cancer deaths in women in Canada.

Usually women performing a self-examination won’t discover a lump at its earliest stages. A physician will notice one a little sooner, while mammograms will locate them even smaller.

“Obviously the need for further treatment might be reduced if it’s just taking out the lump and not having to have chemo or radiation,” Knudsen said. “The earlier you find it, the better the survival rate.”

For more information, visit www.cancer.ca.