Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk
By Kaity Tsui, Special Contributor

On Sunday, October 17, this day was one of the most invigorating experiences of my life. It was the “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” Walk in Central Park-East Meadow. After all, breast cancer touches everyone in one way or another. It is a 5-mile walk to promote awareness and raise money to find a cure for a disease that strikes over 200,000 times a year in the U.S.

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that has developed from cells of the breast. A malignant tumor is a group of cancer cells that may invade surrounding tissues or spread to distant areas of the body. The disease occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get it too.

In addition, breast cancer is the 2nd most common cancer among women (the 1st is skin cancer). The chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in a woman’s life is about 1 in 7 (13.4%). Furthermore, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. The chance that breast cancer will be responsible for a woman’s death is about 1 in 33 (3%). In 2004, about 40,110 women and 470 men will die from breast cancer in the United States. Death rates from breast cancer have been declining. These decreases are believed to be the result of earlier detection and improved treatment.
A risk factor is anything that increases your chances of getting a disease, though having one or several risk factors does not mean you will get it. In the case of breast cancer, several risk factors you cannot change include gender, aging, genetics, family history, and of course race. Caucasian women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than are African-American women. However, African-American women are more likely to die of this cancer because their cancers are often diagnosed later and at an advanced stage when they are harder to treat and cure. There is also some evidence that African-American women have more tumors that are aggressive. With the case of Asian, Hispanic, and Native American women, they have a lower risk of developing breast cancer.

However, there are certain factors that increase risk of getting the disease, such as hormone replacement therapy, use of alcohol, obesity and high-fat diets, environmental pollution, and smoking. Consequently, one can change and improve his or her lifestyles to reduce one’s chances of getting breast cancer.

What causes breast cancer is still unknown. Although many risk factors may increase your chance of developing breast cancer, it is not yet known exactly how some of these risk factors cause cells to become cancerous. A woman's hormones somehow stimulate breast cancer growth. Just how this comes about has not yet been worked out.

I worked with Asian Initiative with this event, and I am glad that I was able to contribute to this club. My friend Doris Pun, Asian Initiative’s President, was one of the walkers. 2 of AI’s members and I made up the rest of the AI Team. And so, the day finally came when we found ourselves wondering, “Can we do this? Can we do the whole walk?”

We all met in front of Gould Plaza at 9:30 in the morning. We wore matching T-shirts and were provided free transportation thanks to the NYU Health Center. Once we arrived and registered, I was surprised to find how many volunteers had come, especially the group of Asian people. From the start all the way to the finish line, the cheers were relentless. The support was so encouraging and I know it pushed me to keep going to the very end. It was also AI’s continuous strength, determination, and persistence that helped all of us. It just goes to show how many of us care about what’s going on around us, and what we can do to help.

We re-boarded the buses from Central Park back to Gould Plaza on NYU’s Washington Square Campus, and I found myself feeling accomplished. I discovered a ray of hope that I could make a difference. I later found out that the walk was able to raise $2,185,000 and to bring together 22,000 walkers for the fight against breast cancer.

Note: Breast Cancer Information taken off from cancer.org