On March 11, 2006 Mamafest, a youth focused organization based out of Seattle, Washington, will host its 6th annual snowboarding and music festival at The Summit at Snoqualmie West. Sponsored by K2 Snowboarding, Mamafest hopes to raise $30,000 dollars for breast cancer charity. Mamafest 2006 promises to bring to the Summit at Snoqualmie some of the best music on the Northwest scene today. Scheduled to perform are: Speaker Speaker, The Hollow Points, Mon Frere, DJ Mullet and DJ Colb.

Being genetically at-risk for breast cancer, Carolyn, the founder of Mamafest, was inspired by the nationally recognized Boarding for Breast Cancer Foundation to create a local organization aimed at educating youth and raising funds for breast cancer research. Fighting breast cancer on the slopes, Mamafest strives to promote breast cancer awareness among youth and adults and to raise funds for breast cancer research organizations and educational programs.

The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, NESTA, has granted Micrima Ltd, of Bristol University, £150,000 to develop a new microwave radar technology, based on the technology used to detect landmines, for the detection of tumors during screening for breast cancer.

According to the newsroom at NESTA, each year 1.5 million women are screened for breast cancer in the UK. At present, breast cancer screening is carried out mainly by X-ray mammography which is more suitable for women over 50 when breast tissue is less fibrous. The new method needs no breast compression and the ‘radiation’ used is non-ionizing unlike x-rays, which because of potential health effects, has to be used sparingly, and avoided where possible in younger women. In contrast, the radar method may be very suitable for younger women, and has absolutely no health detriment.

The technology was originally developed for detecting buried landmines. Mine detection and breast screening share similar characteristics in they both involve the discovery of a discrete object whose electrical properties differ from the surrounding medium.

Art for Recovery holds quilt workshops in hospitals and community centers in the San Francisco Bay Area for men, women, children, friends and family members who have been touched by breast cancer. The program generously provides all the needed quilting materials, expertise, inspiration and enough volunteers so that each participant feels important. Each 12 inch square is made into a finished 8x8 foot quilt. In six years, over 42 quilts have been made. Art for Recovery quilts are displayed in the communities they were created, become part of a tour to raise breast cancer awareness, and can be seen at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in San Francisco. 

Art for Recovery includes a nice webpage of instructions, and helpful tips, on how to create a quilt square. As Art for Recovery posts: "No artistic experience is necessary! Express what having breast cancer has been like for you or someone you love. Hope, sadness, illness as a teacher can all be expressed. You may write your full name, initials only, first name or no name, in small letters on your design." If you would like your quilt square to be included in one of Art for Recovery's quilts, they ask that you include a short paragraph, poem, or statement about your design and breast cancer experience. Complete information for mailing can be found at Art for Recovery Breast Cancer Quilts Project.

No More Breast Cancer is the UK Working Group on the Primary Prevention of Breast Cancer's online resource based on the report, Breast Cancer: an environmental disease, offered as a public interest resource focusing on risk factors for breast cancer not recognized as part of the UK’s cancer prevention agenda. The report can be used by individuals and groups planning or developing primary prevention campaign work and as a general reference for anyone concerned about breast cancer prevention, or disease prevention in general. In addition, the report can be adapted for use in countries other than the UK, among organizations interested in the environmental issues of cancer prevention.

Breast Cancer: an environmental disease report document challenges a number of prevailing views and attitudes about breast cancer and sets out to establish a new view of breast cancer as a preventable rather than inevitable disease. The purpose of the UK Working Group on the Primary Prevention of Breast Cancer is in addressing the environmental factors, as opposed to lifestyle factors, associated with breast cancer. To inform and encourage new ways of thinking about this disease and the many possibilities for its prevention, and challenge the UK government to prioritize prevention as the primary goal.

In February 1996, to emphasize a belief that exercise is beneficial for breast cancer survivors and to increase breast cancer awareness, the first Breast Cancer Survivors Dragon Boat of Vancouver, B.C., team was formed. At the time, Dr. Donald McKenzie did not agree with the common belief that women who had undergone breast cancer surgery and treatments should not do upper body exercise because it would cause lymphedema and tissue damage. He felt the opposite was true, and with a grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada, set out to prove his theory that repetitive upper body exercise had positive outcomes for breast cancer survivors. 

Paddling proved not only very healthy for the women physically, it also provided a profoundly positive mental and emotional shift in their outlook. "During most breast cancer treatment, you are passive," states Dr. McKenzie "The most active you are is swallowing a pill. You are not doing anything and you are not in control. Here was something you can do that would improve your health, and you are in control. It makes such a difference when you are able to say, 'Here's something I can control.'"

Dragon Boat Racing is an ancient Chinese ceremony that symbolizes man's struggle with nature and his fight against deadly enemies. Dragon boats are large canoe-like boats with a crew of 20-26 paddlers, a steers person, and a drummer. At the end of the modern day dragon boat race, competing breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams salute each other. The social bonds created between breast cancer dragon boat racers have proven to be as psychologically beneficial as the physical benefits in preventing lymphedema. The study article, Abreast in a boat -- a race against breast cancer, is available as a PDF document.

Just Giving is an online forum community where online donors can share ideas and information on successful fundraising. Community members are encouraged to share fundraising stories as an inspiration for others involved in fundraising activities. Prizes are offered for the best fundraising photos posted at Just Giving.

Marcia Mercier, an eight year breast cancer survivor and Just Giving member, is planning to celebrate her 40th birthday by trekking the Great Wall of China to raise money for Breast Cancer Care. According to Mercier, who was 32 at the time of her breast cancer diagnosis, and a young mother of two small boys, Breast Cancer Care was her lifeline throughout her experience with breast cancer. She has been active as a Breast Cancer Care Helpline Volunteer and Peer Supporter, and now wants to do more. Mercier is hoping to raise £2,500 for the breast cancer charity during her Great Wall of China trek.

In 1989, Andrea Ravinett Martin was diagnosed with breast cancer. The physician told her to put her affairs in order. Instead, Martin fought back against the cancer with the same fierce determination and resolve for winning she applied each time she met face-to-face with one of life's obstacles. She defeated breast cancer but the fight was not over. In 1992, Martin started the Breast Cancer Fund in her living room with a mission to transform the breast cancer epidemic from a private secret to a public health priority. The Breast Cancer Fund advocates for the elimination of environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer. In 1995, Martin, with 17 other breast cancer survivors, climbed Mt. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere. The climbing team raised more than $1 million dollars.
 
In 2000, Andrea launched the Obsessed With Breasts ad campaign to reveal the truth about breast cancer by showed beautiful models with Andrea's own mastectomy scars superimposed over the model's breasts. The awareness campaign ignited controversy and comment around the world. In June 2001, twelve years after her first breast cancer diagnosis, she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. By now, her family and friends assumed she would conquer this cancer as well.

"I thought that when you were the founder and executive director of a huge cancer foundation, you were somehow immune to the dangers you were battling. I thought you weren't allowed to get sick, like there was some rule about it. But in reality, my mom is never big on following rules in the first place. So, really, why should she start now?" stated Mather, Martin's daughter.

After Martin learned that her brain tumor had become very aggressive, she traveled to New York to bring attention to the personal pollution we all carry in our bodies with a New York Times ad that read: "Warning -- Andrea Martin contains 59 cancer-causing industrial chemicals." As she told an interviewer, "My body is a record of the environmental history of my life."

On August 6, 2003, Andrea Ravinett Martin, 57, lost her life to brain cancer. The Breast Cancer Fund continues on, in her memory, and with her fighting spirit, advocating for the elimination of environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer.

LUNAFEST is a women's film festival of short films showcasing the talents of  independent women filmmakers. The LUNAFEST film festival is a unique opportunity for women to come together as community and be inspired by the artistic visions of independent women filmmakers. Held on college campuses, in theaters and auditoriums, the film festival travels across the country, to more than 100 venues nationwide, as it raises money for the Breast Cancer Fund. In its fifth year as a women's independent film festival, this season's short films include Backseat Bingo, One Weekend A Month, Tahara, Blessing, Twilight, Perfection, Laying Down Arms, and Mabel's Saga / Le Voyage De Mabelle.

To celebrate LUNAFEST's fifth year, a special showing of the top eight films from the last five years are included in the 2005/2006 festival. To learn more about the short films featured this season, film festival locations, and to help raise money for the Breast Cancer Fund, visit LUNAFEST.

Kristi blogs Pink Prozac about her breast cancer survivorship and life. In 2001, on her 31st birthday, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The first time she visited her physician about the lump in her breast, he said she was too young to have breast cancer. He told her to stop worrying about it. But it kept bothering her, the lump in her breast, and so, eight months later, she went in and asked the physician to examine the lump again. After a mammogram and ultrasound, Kristi was told what she feared from the beginning. Kristi had breast cancer.

At work, she blogs that her boss and co-workers let her, "sit there and stare at my computer and cry and constantly look up breast cancer information on the internet. I was in a daze and it was very hard to get out of bed every morning. I thought I was definitely going to die." Five years later, Kristi is a breast cancer survivor who is still scared and paranoid, and also very happy.

In 2004, their co-worker and friend Jocelyne Sioui had a relapse of breast cancer, only this time the cancer was terminal. They rallied around Sioui, and did what they could do for her, as most co-workers and friends do. They put together a fundraiser, and raised $3,000 to buy Sioui a scooter, to help her get around in the last months of her life.

The group of women decided to make the fundraiser a yearly event, and donate the money to a breast cancer charity. Breast cancer charities depend on fundraisers, so much so, they actively make very public pleas for monetary donations each year. But no one wanted this group of women's money, unless they were willing to give it anonymously. The problem, as the breast cancer charities saw it? The group of women are exotic dancers. So, the money the dancers raised last year went to a local hospice instead.

This year, Rany Xanthopoulo, executive director for The Breast Cancer Society of Canada, a non-profit registered national charity that raised close to a million dollars last year for breast cancer research, with its Dress Down Day and Mother's Day Walk fundraisers, has stated they will be proud to accept the donation. As Xanthopoulo expressed so well, "Our bottom line is that any woman can get breast cancer. It doesn't matter what they do, what their profession is." Exactly my thought.

In The Weekend to End Breast Cancer 2005, BJ and The Boobettes raised $35,708.74, ranking 9th out of 373 teams in the event to raise money for breast cancer research and breast cancer cure. The Boobettes are aiming to make a larger contribution in 2006. To reach the team's goal, it appears they have embarked on a web media blitz campaign, showing up in email boxes of friends and on blog comments. The Weekend to End Breast Cancer, August 18-20, 2006, is a two day fundraising event, where thousands of women and men unite in Vancouver, British Columbia, to walk 60 kilometres to celebrate breast cancer survivors and honor the lives lost to breast cancer. Currently, on the BJ and The Boobettes team page, they rank second as the team with the most donations this year. BJ and The Boobettes say they had a lot of fun fundraising, training and participating in the 2005 walk and this year they are having just as much fun. Indeed, they are a fun group of women, with a serious cause. I have no doubts BJ and The Boobettes will reach and exceed this year's fundraising goals!

In February 2004, Amy Micks, a breast cancer survivor, climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro as a personal challenge. It was on the summit her idea for Up Kili was born, as a way to share with other breast cancer survivors, the incredible experience of getting to the summit of the mountain.

On February 21, 2006, Micks will take 30 breast cancer survivors and their friends to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for breast cancer research. Joining Micks on the climb will be Diane Brooks, who lost her aunt and sister to breast cancer; Deryl Empson, husband to Mary Ann; Mary Ann Empson, eight-year survivor; Joanna Chrystal, survivor, will be joined by her daughter Haley; Haley Higdon; John Karagossian; Maria Parusis, whose mother is a survivor; Karen Panzer, survivor; Kathy Ng, four-year survivor; Maggie Loney who lost two sisters to cancer; Marjorie Ramsden, four-year survivor; Tara Dodson, whose aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer; Pamela Jackson, three-year survivor; Pauline Auty, seven-year survivor; Trudie Hynes, whose mother is a seven-year survivor; Shoshana Burgett, diagnosed with breast cancer last year; Valerie Kraus, 10-year survivor; Michael Henry; Sylvia Rak, whose friend is a survivor; Gwen Frankland, 29-year survivor; Alison Curtis, three-year survivor; Deb Wallace, who joins her friend Alison on the climb; Kata Vucovic, 27-year survivor; Cathy Tsilfidis who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and Luc Sabourin, who will be joining Cathy on the climb; and Sue Scharf-Green whose joins friend Karen Panzer on the climb. Eddie Frank, husband of Amy Micks, and Matt Dodson will lead the climb.

On March 2nd, they will reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. A symbolic endeavor of spirit as magnificent as the mountain, of 30 who are surviving breast cancer to conquer a mountain.

Breast cancer in industrialized countries is rising at an epidemic rate, and women who work the late shift have higher rates of breast cancer. What do these two facts have in common? Artificial light at night. Like our ancestors, we do not go to bed when the sun goes down. With the advent of electricity and artificial light at night, we can stay up very late, and this extra exposure to nighttime light is creating an imbalance of melatonin, an important hormone, with the innate ability to suppress the growth of breast tumors. Breast tumors are dependent on a nutrient called linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid, in order to grow. Melatonin interferes with the tumor’s ability to use linoleic acid as a growth signal, which causes tumor metabolism and growth activity to shut down. This appears to be an 'out-of-sync with the natural cycles of light and dark' problem. Daytime light does not create an imbalance of melatonin levels.

According to Breast Cancer Action, there is no prevention, there is no cure, and breast cancer knows no boundaries. In addition, the organization states that mammograms do not prevent cancer; that the lack of medical insurance and poor access to treatment is the cause of decreasing survival rates; and we are constantly exposed to an environment saturated with cancer-causing toxins.

Frustrated by inadequate, superficial breast cancer data and research offered by government agencies and other organizations, a group of San Francisco Bay Area women got together and formed Breast Cancer Action, a grassroots organization of breast cancer survivors and their supporters. Activism and advocacy, with an interest in answers leading to true prevention and a true cure for breast cancer, are at the heart of their organization. The bad girls of breast cancer are pushing to make breast cancer a national priority, to empower women and men to fully participate in decisions relating to breast cancer, and are calling for a refocusing of research into the causes, treatment, cure and prevention of breast cancer. In the U.S., a woman is diagnosed with invasive breast cancer every three minutes.