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Breast Cancer

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Submitted By cieraparker7
Words 1460
Pages 6
Ciera Parker
03/15/13
Issue Essay
Wolford
English 102
Issue Essay

Since I am doing my service learning hours with the Discovery Center of Idaho, which is home to the temporary Bodies Revealed exhibit, I have chosen to do my essay on the terrible issue of cancer in the body, focusing mainly on breast cancer in women of any age. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer that is developed in women of all ages. The first being all types of skin cancers. It is estimated that one in eight women in America will develop an invasive form of breast cancer in their lifetime, but one in thirty-six women will die from the breast cancer. Breast cancer has the second highest death rate of cancers in women, besides lung cancer which is almost always fatal. According to the American Cancer Society, they predict that almost 40,000 women will die from breast cancer and about 230,000 new cases will be diagnosed in women this year alone. Scientists are continuing to search for a cure and prevention of this horrible disease because of these ridiculously high numbers.

Although nobody has found a definite answer for the cause of breast cancer or any cancers in general, there are many risk factors that are thought to increase your chances of developing cancer. Some people are born with genetic mutations that cause the cells in your body to multiply faster and more aggressive than normal. It is also hereditary, meaning if a family member had breast cancer in the past, specifically one's mother or grandmother, you are more likely to get the cancer. Other people, however, acquire these gene mutations possibly by radiation or cancer causing chemicals. Age can also be a factor in who gets the cancer. Over 80% of all cases of breast cancer are in women over fifty years of age. Some other risk factors for breast cancer are obesity, race, denser breast tissue, estrogen exposure,

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