About Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the US and is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women age 40-59. It is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death among women.

Breast cancer accounts for one of every three cancer diagnoses in women. Nearly 200,000 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year and about 40,000 women will die from breast cancer this year. An additional 60,000 new cases of in situ breast cancer are expected to occur in women this year.

There are over two million breast cancer survivors alive today in the U.S. and the number of deaths due to breast cancer seems to be declining. A combination of earlier detection and more effective treatment is thought to be responsible for these declining rates.

ABOUT SUSAN G. KOMEN

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever.

In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. With the goal of winning this fight, Komen has committed to invest another $2 billion dollars over the next decade with the goal of achieving its ultimate vision of a world without breast cancer.

For more information, please visit Komen.org