Letters to the Editor


When participating in breast cancer awareness and fund raising, consider these statistics. They should reassure those who do not now have it and provide some options for those worried about their future. Many women are already choosing “active surveillance” over radical surgery as a first choice. These stats are reported in the Oct. 12 issues to Time Magazine.

1) The chances of a woman in the United States getting diagnosed with invasive breast cancer: 1 in 800.

2) Median age (most common age) for breast cancer diagnosis in the U.S.: 61

3) The chances that a woman in the U.S. will die from breast cancer: 1 in 4,566.

Compared to other potential fatal diagnosis, the roughly 1.3 million women who die each year and diagnosis:

1) 22 percent heart disease

2) 18 percent other forms of cancer

3) 5 percent Alzheimer’s

4) 3 percent breast cancer

So keep checking, eat and live in a healthy lifestyle but always double check the prognosis (predicted outcome) of any diagnosis before making a decision on treatment. No, I am not adoctor, just a guy who spent 35 years in life and health insurance claims and statistics.

Joseph M. Reichert, Belleville