DENTON, Texas (March 11) – On Saturday, Mar. 13, at 12:00 noon, the Texas Woman’s University softball team will join the fight against breast cancer when they host their annual “Think Pink” game at Pioneer Field versus West Texas A&M.
The Pioneer players will be wearing pink jerseys and white pants for the contest against the Lady Buffs. The TWU softball coaches and TWU game operations staff will also wear pink. All fans attending the game are encouraged to put on their pink as well.
A pink breast cancer ribbon will be hung on the back of the TWU dugout for every strikeout recorded in the game by the Pioneer pitchers. Immediately following the game, the TWU softball players will be stationed on the sidewalk leaving the field asking fans to donate one dollar to
TWU Health Services (to pay for mammograms for TWU students) for every ribbon hanging.
A limited number of TWU Athletics “Think Pink” t-shirts will also be on sale at the game for just $10.00 apiece. All profits from the t-shirt sales will also go to TWU Health Services.
“Raising breast cancer awareness is a very worthwhile cause,” said TWU head softball coach Richie Bruister. “We just want to do our part to help in the battle against this deadly disease.”
Saturday afternoon’s game against WTAMU will be the finale of a three-game Lone Star Conference South Division series between the Pioneers (15-6) and the Lady Buffs (17-7). TWU and WTAMU will also play a doubleheader on Friday evening, Mar. 12, beginning at 5:00 p.m.
BREAST CANCER FACTS AND STATISTICS:
• Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for all women and the leading overall cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 20 and 59.
• In the United States, a new case of breast cancer is diagnosed every three minutes, and a woman will die from breast cancer every 13 minutes.
• African American women have a higher breast cancer death rate that woman of any other racial or ethnic population.
• Eighty percent of all breast tumors are benign.
• In 2007, it was estimated that there would be 178,480 new cases of breast cancer in women and 2,030 new cases of breast cancer in men. Of these, an estimated 40,460 women and 450 men will die from the disease.
• The basic treatment choices for breast cancer are surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy.
• The most common risk factors of breast cancer are sex, age, personal history, family history and breast cancer genes.
• The highest risk factor for breast cancer is being female with the disease being 100 times more common among women.
• The risk of breast cancer increases as a woman grows older.
• Women who have had breast cancer and women with a history of breast disease may develop it again.
• The risk of developing breast cancer increases for a woman whose mother, sister, daughter or two or more relatives have had the disease.
• Some women and men may be born with a change in one or two genes that are important for regulating breast cell growth. Those who inherit an alteration in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are at an inherited higher risk for breast cancer.
• The hormone Estrogen may also play a key role in the risk factors of breast cancer including having an early first period or menstrual bleeding, having a first pregnancy after the age of 25 to 35, having no children and the use of hormone replacement therapy.
• Women who begin menstruating before the age of 12 are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer- the more menstrual cycles a woman gets over her lifetime, the more likely she is to get the disease.
• Early pregnancies may help to lower the chances of getting breast cancer, but these same hormonal changes may work in reverse and contribute to the incidence of breast cancer after age 35.
• Women who experience continuous menstrual cycles until menopause are at a higher than average risk for breast cancer.
• Women appear to have an increased risk of breast cancer while they are on Hormone Replacement Therapy which continues for a short time thereafter.
• There are several lifestyle choices that individuals can make to help reduce breast cancer risk including decreasing daily fat intake (especially saturated and hydrogenated), increasing fiber, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, limiting alcohol, staying active and not smoking.
• The best available method to detect breast cancer early is a mammography screening.
• Breast cancer is the most invasive cancer among women in the U.S. accounting for nearly one out of every three cancers diagnosed.
• An estimated 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to occur in 2007.