Mothers, Talk To Your Daughters About Breast Cancer #Infographic

This is a sponsored post. 

Breast cancer has always been something that everyone else gets. Yes, I’ve had friends that have survived and some who have passed away from breast cancer. A few years ago, I had my own breast cancer scare.

My Breast Cancer Scare Story

I’m careful about seeing my doctor annually and I never miss a mammogram or monthly self-check, so I figured I was good to go. A few years ago, in the shower, I felt something that wasn’t right. It wasn’t very large, but because I do monthly checks, I knew it wasn’t there before.

I called my doctor that day and he had me come in right away. He didn’t want to wait and set up a mammogram and ultrasound. He was about 50/50 with whether it could be breast cancer, so he wanted the testing done ASAP. I had to wait two days. Those were a LONG two days.

Fortunately for me, it turned out to be a lipoma and was not cancer. For two days though, I had no idea and it was scary. I was thrilled that the results were negative, but I couldn’t imagine what it’s like to get the opposite news. To have your life changed in an instant.

Mothers, Talk to Your Daughters

Before that experience, I never talked to my girls much about breast cancer. I really didn’t think about it. They were teens and it didn’t occur to me to talk to them. Since then, I have talked to them about it.

My daughters.

My oldest daughter is 18 and a freshman in college. She and I both went to the Gynecologist this year. I had her go because I wanted her to start to be comfortable having a doctor check her and teach her how to do monthly checks the proper way.

Steps to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

When I saw this research, it was exciting to see that there are other things that we can and should talk to our daughters about concerning breast cancer.

In addition to the steps below, it’s also important to talk to your kids about breast cancer in your family. There may be family members that had breast cancer early in life and they do not know

Scientists, physicians, and community partners in the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP), which is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), study the effects of environmental exposures on breast cancer risk later in life. They created a mother-daughter toolkit mothers can use to talk to daughters about steps to take together to reduce risk.

BCERP Survey

Please take a few moments to take this survey.

More information, resources, and downloads can be found at the BCERP website.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in partnership with Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program. All opinions are my own.