Clouds and Sunshine

Maybe today was a dry run for things to come. The clouds and the gloom slowly replace by a beautiful, crisp fall sunshine. Fear and despair replaced by hope and promise.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Today I participated in the "Breast Cancer Awareness Ride" in New Albany, sponsored by TREK.

Breast cancer is the oldest known form of cancer, with roots dating back to 1600 B.C. in Egypt. It is estimated that there will be 200,000 cases of breast cancer in the United States in 2009 and of those 40,000 will die. It is the 2nd most common non-skin cancer in the States (#1 worldwide - and by a long shot) and the 2nd leading cause of death. While white women have a higher incidence of breast cancer, African-American women have a higher mortality rate.

There are 2 main risk factors -- unfortunately for me and my sisters we can control neither: 1. Being Female and 2. Getting Older.

And while uncommon -- men do get breast cancer. My friend Greg Honzo died several months after Dad after fighting breast cancer for several years.

And so we rode today. Men and Women, all united today for a cause. Some folks just because it was a good day for a bike ride, many solely to support a good cause. I substituted my normal team kit to ride in Dad's jersey -- the one I rode at Pelotonia. It seemed fitting, especially with more than 1 breast cancer survivor of victim listed on the back.

We started out with the whole group, meandering out of town, onto the bike path.


Then we got lost. The heavy rains the night before had taken out a few of the signs and washed the arrows off of the path. We re-grouped and headed out again. We got a bit separated on the bike path and Heidi and I went straight, the rest turned. We waited for them at the next stop sign not knowing they had turned. We headed back for them and one of the local police officers sent us a round-about way. Nothing like a few extra miles!

We finally got back together. We've ridden these rodes plenty of times before. Beautiful day, nice roads, good company, terrible head winds!

But the knee held up well and we had a blast. We caught people, stopped, passed them again! Frank got a flat so we re-grouped. Some slower riders thougth that was a great chance to take a bit of a break. So we gathered a larger group and headed back down the road. We hit a little climb which broke the group up again for good.
Down to just four we headed back, and took a bit of a scenic detour -- well actually twice (once planned, once not so planned!). When we got back they threw us a party, had some food, and visited with friends old and new.

We figured there were several hundred people out today. All of the entry fees went to Breast Cancer research, all of the labor, food, and door prizes were donated. There were pink balloons up, signs along the route and bicycles with pink signs on them.

All in all a good day, money raised, awareness accomplished.

So -- What can you do? Well for starters:

Contribute to awareness and research campaigns

Eat a low fat diet

Drink Alcohol in moderation

Keep your weight at an acceptable level

Keep physically active

Practice regular screening and get regular mamograms

Oh -- and the two most important things:

Be a man

Don't get old

To help fund mamograms for women who don't have health insurance and/or can't afford a mamogram click on the link below:

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

And there is good news -- While the rate of diagnosis of breast cancer has risen in the last decade the mortality rate has slowly declined. Over $8.1 Billion dollars are spent on breast cancer research each year and it appears to be working.

Clouds and gloom replaced by bright skies and sunshine. Fear and Despair replace by Hope and Promise.

It's time for a mamogram.