As the mastectomy fitter at Sav-Rite Home Care in Corbin, Dianne Painter helps fit women, who have had reconstruction or a mastectomy, with breast forms that will look symmetrical.
“We fit their natural breast to a bra and then fit a form that fills that in,” Painter noted.
Being a breast cancer survivor herself of 24 years, Painter gets the importance of what Sav-Rite does for its clients, who have survived cancer.
As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Sav-Rite held its Eighth Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day Friday to celebrate survivors and raise awareness about the disease.
Aside from skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States accounting for about 30 percent of all new female cancers in the United States each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Statistically, about one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her life.
About 310,720 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the United States in 2024 while about 56,500 new cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) will be diagnosed during this same time period. About 42,250 women will die from breast cancer this year, the American Cancer Society reports.
This is hope.
Breast cancer death rates have been decreasing steadily since 1989, for an overall decline of 42 percent through 2021, and there are estimated to be more than four million breast cancer survivors in the United States.
One of the high points of Friday’s Sav-Rite awareness day was the pink remembrance tree where attendees could write the name of a breast cancer survivor on an ornament and place it on the tree or place an ornament on the tree in memory of someone.
Pink is the color for breast cancer awareness month.
Sav-Rite also gave away T-shirts and other items to promote breast cancer awareness, had door prize drawings and gift bags in addition to providing light refreshments.
To reduce their risk of breast women are encouraged to avoid excess weight gain and stay physically active as they get older.
The American Cancer Society recommends that women between the ages of 45 to 54 get annual mammograms, and that women age 55 and old get mammograms at least every other year.
