Awareness and a helping hand
Editorial

This is not a health or medical newspaper. This is not a newspaper designed to write only about women's issues, but the issue of breast cancer awareness month does apply to each one of us that opens this paper.

October was declared National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by a number of private corporations.

One in eight women are expected to develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime and one of every four cancer diagnoses in women is breast cancer.

Breast cancer is only one of a number of well-known and obscure cancers that people throughout the United States will be diagnosed with this year. The American Cancer Society estimates that 34,920 cases of cancer will occur in Massachusetts this year.

Cancer seems to touch each one of us, whether we are the patient, the family or simply a friend or colleague.

There are many things that most of us can't do for those who have cancer. Most of us won't discover a cure of their particular disease, we can't make chemo or radiation any less painful or scary, and we can't predict the future.

And if it is a loved one suffering from the disease these are the hardest things not to be able to do.

For some of us we can afford to give financially to organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the Jimmy Fund or the American Cancer Society. We make donations directly to the group or we sponsor someone walking or riding the Walk for the Cure, the PanAm Challenge or similar events.

But again, for some, the money in the wallet is stretched pretty thin.

So maybe it's time we can give, or give up some of our own peace and quiet. Maybe it's babysitting someone's kids so they can get to a doctor's appointment or just have a quiet night at home. Maybe it's cooking a double pot of chili and bringing it over to the neighbor's so they don't have to cook or go grocery shopping.

There is a way each of us can help fight the battle against cancer, we just each have to decide what our best skill is and share that with our neighbors, friends and colleagues.