This morning I attended the kickoff breakfast for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk being held October, 28th in Ocean City, New Jersey.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a noncompetitive walk to help fight breast cancer and provide hope to people facing the disease. Your participation will support the American Cancer Society's lifesaving research, prevention, early detection, and support programs for thousands of patients and their families.

I learned today that Making Strides is more than just a walk -- it is the amazing progress that is being made to defeat breast cancer. This is truly an inspiring event!

Check out Making Strides for Breast Cancer walks in your area -- here.

Just recently, European researchers announced that MRI scans offer a new way to detect breast cancer in its earliest form. They can even prevent cancer among high-risk women.

Better than standard mammograms, MRI can detect a nonmalignant tumor called ductal carcinoma in-situ, or DCIS. Once found, the lesion can be surgically removed before it becomes cancerous.

Think about this: It is believed that almost all breast cancer starts out as DCIS. And this: if MRI were the gold standard breast cancer screening tool, we might be able to prevent a lot more breast cancer cases than we do now. It seems researchers agree.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) of Ohio has filed a lawsuit challenging the state's workplace smoking ban. The ban exempts some military veterans' halls and other private clubs -- and the ASC says this is not OK.

The exemption waters down the law and exposes people to secondhand smoke, say ACS spokeswoman Wendy Simpkins.

The smoking ban was approved by 58 percent of voters in November, took effect in December, and will result in fining beginning the first week in May. The law prohibits smoking in most public places, such as restaurants, bars, and office and excludes tobacco shops, designated hotel rooms, and enclosed areas of nursing homes. Halls and clubs can be excluded from the law only if there are no employees.

Jay Carey, spokesman for the state Health Department, says public health officials have the authority to set rules for enforcement. They ultimately decided that VFW halls and other private clubs were exempt if they had only members as employees. For the exemption to apply, such clubs also must be nonprofit and in a freestanding building. No nonmembers or children under age 18 can be present.

The ACS argues that the state rules are confusing and make the law unworkable.

International pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is donating $10 million to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The donation is one of the largest gifts ever received by the ACS and will help provide support for patients in United States hospitals.

Support will come in the form of specially-trained ACS employees who will work in 60 different hospitals and cancer centers and will offer social, emotional, financial, and transportation assistance in medically underserved Atlanta areas.

London-based AstraZeneca, maker of breast cancer drug tamoxifen and other breast and prostate cancer drugs, made $26 billion in sales last year, the same year the company gave $7 million to a Boston Cancer Society for the development of a Hope Lodge.

In 2002 I received my first Longaberger Horizon of Hope basket from a friend. Since then she has sent me one each year. I now have a nice collection of these beautiful baskets.

Since 1995 The Longaberger Company has teamed up with the American Cancer Society to raise funds for breast cancer research and education. This program is called Horizon of Hope. So far the program has raised twelve million dollars. The specially designed baskets are sold during their Horizon of Hope campaign. Two dollars from every basket sold goes directly to the American Cancer Society.

The Horizon of Hope baskets also include important educational information and guidelines on mammograms and breast exams.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of 2001. I now look at these baskets that I have received over the years and I get excited as I see the collection grow. I expect to be an old lady with a whole wall of baskets!

One of my favorite bloggers and brightest lights in the cancer blogging community Keri, who is still running for a reason, and who blogs 500 Miles 2 Nowhere, has announced she will be blogging the Blogathon 24 hour marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.

Starting July 29, and fueled by coffee, she will blog every 30 minutes for a total of 48 posts. Why is she doing it?

"Because my auntie and our dear friend and my neighbor from out in Kinnic and Jodi's mom and so damn many others are fighting. Kids and adults and too many. Doesn't it seem like there are more now than ever before?

And I'm so very thrilled the strides that are being made and I want to be involved in all of those future strides by raising the funds that will pay for the research that is going to find the cure."

Keri doesn't say this but she is also doing it because she is a delightfully spirited and passionately fun woman who is always up for an adventure in doing anything to fight and beat cancer. She runs and runs and runs for those who have been diagnosed with cancer for the purpose of raising money for the research that will bring a cure.

Keri has promised to post photos and plans to visit various locations as a traveling Blogathon marathon blogger. I will be there cheering her on and checking in as she blogs for a worthy cause. Keri is taking sponsorship donations through ACS Relay For Life. Go here if you would like to show your support.

It's about time. More than 50 percent of all cancer patients and survivors and more than 75 percent of those cancer patients in an advanced stage of cancer suffer unrelenting, sometimes debilitating, and always quality of life-limiting chronic pain. For various reasons, cancer patients and survivors are left on their own to find a solution to the pain that never leaves them. I have been fairly vocal about my position regarding chronic pain and the sheer and absolute lack of very many physicians in the medical community willing to do what they have the ability to do, but won't, when it comes to providing pain relief.

There are more issues to being alive than being alive if you cannot enjoy the life you are living because you are in some way profoundly diminished by pain. The American Cancer Society, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation have come together to form a coalition to provide funding of a three-year grant that allows the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center Pain & Policy Studies Group to evaluate federal and state laws, regulations and agency guidelines that can impact patient access for effective pain relief. With a keen interest in how well this evolves, I will keep you updated on the progress the group makes in changing the current and sad state of patient care in this country when it comes to pain management. 

At the Martinsburg Mall in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Relay for Life organizer and cancer survivor George Blough organized an event in an effort to raise money for cancer charity and break the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people in one place wearing Groucho Marx masks. Mall shoppers could buy a Groucho Marx mask for $5 dollars, with the money going to cancer research, and in wearing the Groucho Marx mask, become part of a record-breaking moment. I did research on this world record-breaking attempt, and discovered that many Relay for Life groups participate in the attempt at breaking the world record for the most people in one place wearing Groucho Marx masks. What a silly fun way to go about raising money for cancer charity. 

The American Cancer Society, ACS, Cancer Action Network, CAN, has issued a Save Our Mammograms and Cancer Screenings action alert for concerned citizens concerning legislation S.1955 designed to undermine important patient protections and hamper efforts to prevent, detect and treat cancer. State laws that ensure cancer screenings protections will be threatened. According to the ACS, this bill would eliminate all of the progress made in the states that guarantee access to mammograms, colon cancer screening, pap smears, clinical trial participation, off-label drug use and other cancer screenings and treatments. The ACS is asking Americans to stand up to protect these vital cancer screenings. ACS has provided an easy-to-use online form that allows citizens to contact U.S. Senators and voice opposition to this legislation. It is an election year. They just might pay a little more attention to what the voters have to say right now. Go here to speak up and have your opinion count.

Thank to Keri of 500 Miles 2 Nowhere for this blog lead!

The American Cancer Society, ACS, offers the Make Yours A Fresh Start Family program to help pregnant women and mothers who smoke interested in smoking cessation. The program allows doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to offer their patients one-on-one counseling using a 5-step stage intervention.

Two booklets, one for pregnant women and a second for mothers who smoke, are part of the counseling intervention. Other materials offered are: Make Yours a Fresh Start Family trainer's video; Helping Smokers Quit - AHCPR Pocket Guide for Primary Care Clinicians and Smart Move, a booklet to help other household smokers quit and to help men become involved in and supportive of their partner's efforts to quit. If you are interested in participating in the ACS Make Yours A Fresh Start Family, ACS asks you to contact your local ACS office.

In Pennsylvania, UPS will be helping the American Cancer Society, ACS, by delivering bunches of daffodils to cancer patients at medical centers in communities statewide during the annual Daffodil Days campaign. Between March 20 to March 26, bunches of daffodils will be available for a $7 dollar donation, which are then delivered to cancer patients.

The money raised during ACS's Daffodil Days goes to continuing research into finding a cancer cure and cancer programs sponsored by the ACS. In some communities, local ACS volunteers deliver the daffodils to cancer patients, so it is nice to hear a company as big as UPS is lending a helping hand in delivering flowers. Explains one of the reasons why UPS was rated “America’s Most Admired” company in its industry in an annual survey conducted by FORTUNE magazine.

The American Cancer Society offers a service program to cancer patients needing transportation to treatment and home again, called Road to Recovery. The ACS Road to Recovery program depends on volunteers to provide transportation for those in need. Almost every community needs additional volunteers. If you can offer some time each month to help in this program, the American Cancer Society provides a simple training program and the opportunity to meet fellow volunteers. Contact your local ACS office, or call 1-800-ACS-2345.

American Cancer Society, ACS, Relay For Life is an overnight team event to celebrate cancer survivorship and raise money for cancer research and cancer programs. All cancer survivors in the community are invited to join the Survivors Lap, part of the opening ceremonies of the Relay For Life event. During the event, teams of people gather at schools, fairgrounds, or parks and take turns walking or running laps. Each team tries to keep at least one team member on the track at all times. At the end of the day, the Ceremony of Hope and Luminaria are special tributes to remember those lost to cancer, support those fighting cancer, and celebrate cancer survivors. Communities aross the country are looking for volunteers and participants in their local Relay for Life. For more information, visit ASC's Relay For Life webpage, for details on how to sign up, or contact your local ACS office. 

In 1985, Relay for Life began with one man, Dr. Gordy Klatt, a Tacoma colorectal surgeon, who wanted to create a way to raise more money for his local American Cancer Society office. On September 19-20, 2006, nearly 4,000 American Cancer Society Celebration Ambassadors will gather in Washington, DC for Celebration on the Hill 2006, an event designed to impress upon the nation's lawmakers how the American Cancer Society is waging the fight against cancer in communities nationwide.