October proclaimed Breast Cancer Awareness Month in W’burg

Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison signed a proclamation Friday afternoon declaring October 2017 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the city of Williamsburg and he urged all community members to support efforts and dedicate themselves to the fight against the disease. He was joined at the proclamation signing by several employees from Baptist Health Corbin.

About one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. In 2014, an estimated 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the United States.

About 85 percent of breast cancers occur in women, who have no family history of the disease. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.

A woman’s risk of breast cancer nearly doubles if she has a mother, sister or daughter, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 15 percent of women, who get breast cancer, have a family member diagnosed with it.