By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many of us know someone who has been impacted by this disease.

Thanks to research there are more survivors after diagnosis than ever before. A key part to this has also been early detection with women being urged to have yearly or every few year mammograms after a certain age. Breast cancer is not the automatic fatal blow that it once was.

It is estimated that more than 266,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, but there has been a 38 percent decline in breast cancer since 1989.

Like with many diseases, there are some risk factors for breast cancer over which an individual has no control. Some types of breast cancer do have a hereditary component.

Other factors are things someone does have control over. According to the American Cancer Society, drinking alcohol and being overweight after menopause increase the risk of breast cancer.

The majority of breast cancer patients are women, but men can have breast cancer as well.

As organizations, such as the American Cancer Society, continue to raise funds for research, it gives hope that there will one day be a 100 percent cure.

Each year Chilton County does its part to help cancer patients and research through Relay for Life. This year those efforts have expanded with the return of Men in Pink. A group of men in the community have committed to raising $2,500 each for the American Cancer Society through the end of October.

These local campaigns provide an opportunity for Chilton County residents to be involved in the fight against cancer.

The American Cancer Society raises funds for research, lodging for patients and caregivers during treatment and wigs. It also provides support for breast cancer patients through Reach to Recovery and helpful information to patients as they battle cancer.