Wearing pink shirts, “I Heart Boobies” bracelets and participating in walks are all great ways to show your support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but most importantly check yourself.

Most people know someone who has had cancer or breast cancer.  Students at the University of Wisconsin-Superior may not think that they can be affected personally by breast cancer, but they can be.

While breast cancer is commonly thought of as something that only older women get, this isn’t entirely true. Breast cancer is more prevalent in women over 40, but men can get it as well. 

Dawn Schulze, coordinator of student health and counseling services, explains, “Breast cancer can strike an individual, male or female, at any time.  The increase for males…is they’re saying that 2,000 males in one year will get diagnosed with breast cancer.  And out of the 2,000 [males], 400 will die from it.”

Remember to keep checking once a month, and try to check at the same day of the month.  Self checks are very important to both sexes. 

“I think it’s just really important that students check themselves, and they keep checking themselves because the internal tissue in mammary glands, that changes over time,” Schulze said.

Student Health and Counseling Services is available for information on how to check for breast cancer.  Students can also contact their doctors, the Health Care Clinic or go online to BreastCancer.org to for preventive measures and other information on breast cancer.