October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is the highly successful annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease.

At West Bloomfield High School (WBHS) many things were done to raise awareness. On the first day of October, WBHS held a  “Pink Out” day, where students and staff wore pink in support of breast cancer awareness. The WBHS football teams wore pink bandanas on their game days and the WBHS Volleyball teams made pink shirts and wore them on their game days. Student Leadership and Peer Mentorship sponsored a pink-themed color run, and all proceeds went to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Local businesses in the West Bloomfield community have led many other initiatives as well: starting in 2014, Michigan is issuing Breast Cancer Awareness License Plates. Money raised by the sale of the plates helps support the Michigan Breast & Cervical Cancer Control Program administered by the Michigan Department of Community Health.  For every pink lid off of a Regular or Greek Yoplait yogurt mailed to the Yoplait company, Yoplait will donate 10 cents to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the nation’s largest breast cancer foundation. Yoplait yogurts can be bought at local grocery stores in the West Bloomfield Area. During the month of October, Hungry Howie’s sells their pizza in pink boxes and for every pizza sold, every story shared, and for every new Facebook fan, Hungry Howie’s will donate to The National Breast Cancer Foundation.There is a Hungry Howie’s in West Bloomfield, next to the West Bloomfield Sports Club on Farmington Road.

While most people are aware of breast cancer, many forget to take the steps to detect the disease in its early stage. Every person should know the symptoms and signs of breast cancer, and any time an abnormality is discovered, it should be brought up to and investigated by a healthcare professional. The National Breast Cancer Foundation encourages all women ages 13+ to perform self examinations, which means it is never too early for teenagers to begin. Breast Cancer Awareness month reminds people how important it is to know their bodies, and be able to recognize when something is amiss or abnormalities are present. The National Breast Cancer Foundation gives a step-by-step guide for performing monthly self-exams called Breast Self Exam (BSE) and additional information on recognizing breast cancer.

As the month of October came to a close, the community of West Bloomfield concluded its Breast Cancer Awareness promotions. But there are many more year-long promotions for Breast Cancer Awareness in West Bloomfield and beyond. Comment below on some of the Breast Cancer Awareness promotions you see in West Bloomfield and other areas.