Dr. Miggy's Healthy Blog for Busy Folks on Tight Budgets

I was thrilled to meet volunteers from The Young Survival Coalition at Survivorship Houston on June 1. The work this organization is doing is so important and I want to spread the word about them. Their mission is to promote awareness and advocacy for young women diagnosed with breast cancer. According to the 2000 US census, over 250,000 women under the age of 40 are currently living with breast cancer, and the disease is the number one cause of cancer death in women ages 15 to 54 (from the National Cancer Institute Fact Book). In spite of these numbers, young women and their doctors are often unaware that breast cancer may pose a risk and even if they are aware there are few effective screening tests for women under 40. This often leads to a late diagnosis of cancer in younger women, which in turn causes a worse prognosis for the disease. The Young Survival Coalition aims to promote awareness of these issues through advocacy not only to young women but to the medical and legislative communities as well.

At the national level, The Young Survival Coalition helps young women with breast cancer to connect with other survivors and get information regarding insurance and treatment through the ResourceLink Guidebook. Caregivers and those interested in prevention can also benefit from the information in the Guidebook. If you know you have a history of breast cancer in your family it certainly doesn’t hurt to educate yourself about the disease, so I encourage you to take a look at the Guidebook.

Here in Houston, The Young Survival Coalition has teamed up with The Rose to provide a support group for women under 40 who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The meet the 2nd Monday of each month 5:45-7:30 at the Rose Center, 3400 Bissonnet, Suite 185. More information about this group and all the support groups offered by The Rose can be found here.

Image: youngsurvival.org