Hello Week Number 3!! The Anti-Cancer Challenge!

Hi folks. I hope you liked my "horror" films. They took some time and made me realize that sometimes I give myself a ton to do. These kinds of activities would be easier if I were not a mother of two small children, but that is part of the reason I am doing this. By forcing myself to do challenges I can show myself, and anyone reading this that you have time to fit things into your schedule. It may be rough, but it can be done. The major lesson I learned from making mini horror movies was that doing it by yourself with only a digital camera used for taking pictures is a harder than it sounds. I know the movies would have been better if I was only directing them since the ideas I have were plenty but wouldn't work the way they played in my mind. But, I did have fun making them and it was great to let my creative juices flow.

Now, as I had mentioned last week, since this is the last week of October I wanted to focus on breast cancer and awareness. (Since of course this month is breast cancer awareness month if you didn't know).  According to http://www.karmanos.org over two and a half million women have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in the U.S (and are still currently living).  This unforgiving cancer can occur in both men and women, though it is more common in women. Somewhere around 1 in 35 women will die from breast cancer. (http://www.cancer.org/) It was estimated by cancer.org that 207,090 women would be diagnosed in 2010 and that 39,840 women would die from breast cancer this same year. Researchers are unsure of the exact causes of breast cancer and state that there are a huge numbers of factors on why women get it. Some of the highest factors on the list include age, sex, and heredity. Weight, age of first period, and use of birth control pills can also be found on the list. (Get the full list at www.komen.org).
The best way to lower your risk of getting this scary disease is by doing a regular mammogram, getting regular checkups, and making sure that if you find a lump in your breast (even if you are a male) to not hesitate about going to the doctor. (Better to be safe then sorry right?)

Now being a woman I am terrified of this disease, but I also feel that we need to up our awareness and fight it the very best we can. I love the fact that we have a month dedicated to being" pink" so to speak- but I really think that after the month is over we shouldn't forget that this thing is taking our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and friends. I want to say "We will kick cancers ass." You know?
My challenge this week is cut out for me. I am vowing this week to make people more aware of the battle we are facing. First I have to find a way to publicly promote it. (If only I had more money to do something a bit bigger here). I am thinking the first thing I need to do is to take some of that wonderful car paint and decorate my car as a driving advertisement- an ad that essentially says let's take out cancer. Next I will need to eat the suggested anti-cancer diet as suggested by Dr. Oz. These consist of mostly fruits and veggies, as well as whole grains. (www.doctoroz.com). I will make some shirts to sell on zazzle.com that I will donate the money made to Susan G. Komen for the Cure (www.komen.org). Last but not least child care permitted I will do my own silent trek from Menomonie Wisconsin to Chippewa Falls Wisconsin in honor of those who have battled all forms of cancer. (This is a 30-mile walk). I am excited and nervous about the walk and am hoping I can find someone to watch my kids for the 12 plus hours I think it will take). I will be trying to find someone all week so that I can accomplish this goal.

Coming Up: More information about breast cancer and how you can help. Stay tuned for the cool anti-cancer shirts, and pictures of my decorated car.