Sunday NFL football fans may have noticed something different amongst the hordes of their favorite gridiron defensive linemen and quarterbacks — pink cleats, wristbands, gloves, chin straps, sideline caps, helmet decals, eye shield decals, captains' patches, sideline towels and quarterback towels. In honor of breast cancer awareness month, every NFL game in October will feature this distinct pink tint, reminding all of us about the devastating disease.
But what these pink ribbons often don’t tell us is that breast cancer deaths have actually dramatically decreased, and according to a study of women treated at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the 10-year survival rate among breast cancer patients has increased from 25 percent between 1944-1955 to 76.5 percent between 1995 to 2004.
Even for patients with stage IV breast cancer — the worst diagnosis that occurs when tumor cells have already metastasized — the 10-year survival rate has increased from 3 percent in 1944 to 22 percent currently.
“After assessing the current statistics on breast cancer survival — especially early (Stage I) breast cancer — we may indeed be close to meeting the definition of a ‘cure,’” says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “There should also be more focus upon the good news about breast cancer — without downplaying the real concern that the public and scientific research devote to reducing the 40,000 deaths from breast cancer in our country each year.”
While ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom thinks it’s great that football players are donning pink ribbons, he points out that we never see anything like that being done to promote prostate cancer awareness. “There’s a parallel that we see between breast cancer and prostate cancer, yet the latter is overlooked in terms of awareness, funding, and research even though the incidence and mortality rates associated with both cancers are similar.”