Live updates from Mt. Shasta! This inspirational group of 20 volunteer climbers from across the country, featuring 3 mother/son teams, are climbing to challenge the 1 in 8 odds of a woman’s breast cancer diagnosis. Many climb in honor of their own or a loved one’s experience with cancer. Follow the team’s journey up the mountain on a 3-day climb.
Initially slated to climb Mount Shasta in June of 2020, this team of climbers showed extreme tenacity and flexibility. Faced with obstacles across the board, the CAO 2020 Redux team rallied, and were finally able to gather June 9th – 13th in Mount Shasta, California. See their journey!
BCPP taught my mom that certain chemicals, diet, and other environmental exposures might increase the risk of a future breast cancer diagnosis for her young daughters, and it was through BCPP that she learned and became empowered to make informed choices about how to keep us as safe and healthy as she could. My mom’s support for BCPP was her gift to us. And that’s why supporting BCPP is so important to me.
For me, February’s Breast Cancer Prevention Month is so much more important. It is critical. As a survivor, I don’t want any more women to suffer this disease. I made it through cancer treatment, but the side effects are lifelong. They aren’t easy. My life is forever changed by this diagnosis.
“Through BCPP, I have become an advocate, and by climbing mountains I hope to be a positive influence on others facing what I and so many others face when dealing with breast cancer. “
The search for a cure for breast cancer must continue, but the physical and mental impacts of diagnosis and treatment cannot be underestimated. For too long we have not given breast cancer prevention the priority needed to stop this disease before it starts. And on a personal level, I want to protect all my loved ones from having to deal with this devastating disease, whether as a patient or caregiver.
This #GivingTuesday, join us and honor the many Faces of Prevention. The real people who inspire our daily work to create a toxic-free world. Up first is Melissa, a clean beauty crusader focused on empowering women and families to make the best choices for healthy, clean living.
I believe prevention protects our loved ones. I think of the many women firefighters in the past and present who have had to face their challenges and hardships with breast cancer. I lost my Aunt Paula when she was 50 years old and two more dear-to-my-heart firefighters, Alyson and Denise. They will be with me always.
We got the wake-up call 4 years ago: my beloved wife Chen was diagnosed with breast cancer. We were shocked: why would a young and healthy yoga therapist, a vegetarian without a family history of cancer, get cancer?
While I’ll never really know what caused my breast cancer (I have no genetic link), the thought of potentially harmful ingredients being in the products that I used, makes me really angry. We shouldn’t have to wonder if the cosmetics or personal care products we used, caused our cancer.
