October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month

SALISBURY, Md. – Breast Cancer Awareness month may be over soon, but doctors in our area say awareness for the sometimes deadly disease should last year round.

“We want it to be detected early, we want people to go get their screenings, go get their mammograms,” Carrie Kellams, Nurse Navigator at the Peninsula Breast Center, said.

Early detection: that’s one way to make a breast cancer diagnosis less daunting. It’s also why October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is so important.

“It’s important to make patients and the public aware that breast cancer, when found and treated early, is a highly curable disease,” Dr. David Sechler, Co-Director of the Peninsula Breast Center, said.

Health officials at the Center tell 47 ABC Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a time to squash popular myths about the disease.

“One that I hear a lot is that wearing deodorant can cause breast cancer or that wearing underwire bras, or bras at all, can cause breast cancer,” Kellams said.

That’s a myth that those officials say is unfounded, with no strong evidence to support that. But perhaps the most popular myth is one that you’ve probably heard yourself – that only women are impacted by the disease.

“Men do have breast tissue, and it’s very rare in men, but they absolutely can develop breast cancer,” Kellams said.

Doctors add that one reason why some patients don’t get screened is simply because of fear of the process. But that’s another myth, that mammograms are painful or scary, that Dr. David Sechler says he wants to put to rest.

“Overall, most patients make out extremely well, it’s not that painful, there’s no needles, it’s just taking a picture, basically,” Dr. Sechler said.

Myths aside, Dr. David Sechler says all women over the age of 40 should be getting screened annually. That, he says, is key for catching the disease early before it has the chance to progress.

“Earlier is better, better prognosis, better survival overall,” Dr. Sechler said.

And so even after October turns into November and breast Cancer Awareness month is over, Dr. Sechler says your own health should be your priority.

“Please, if you’re due for a mammogram, go get one. If you’re turning 40, go get one,” he said.