By Gretta Monahan
Anyone who knows me knows this: I feel very strongly about breast cancer awareness and research. For me, it’s a personal struggle. Too many of my dear friends and I have lost loved ones to the disease. An estimated 2.7 million women are living with breast cancer in the U.S. today, and it kills more women between the ages of 15 and 54 than any other type of cancer. So if I can do anything to add muscle to the fight, I will.
And since Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) is coming up, this is a perfect opportunity to spotlight a phenomenal local foundation, which is having a fabulous event that month.
As important as breast cancer treatment is, more resources are needed to fund research to find its cause as well as how to prevent it. One of my favorite organizations is Find the Cause Breast Cancer Foundation (formerly known as Art beCAUSE). They fund scientific research on the environmental causes of the cancer and public education on its prevention.
“We believe that the environment is impacting our bodies in ways that never happened pre-World War II,” says Ellie Anbinder, who started the foundation 17 years ago. She points to the huge increase in man-made chemicals (more than 85,000) used across the globe over the last 40 years, which coincides with rising breast cancer diagnoses.
Anbinder and her team are raising $5 million to fund a consortium of four scientific laboratories at Boston University and Tufts University.
That’s also why next month they’re bringing environmental activist Erin Brockovich (yes, the woman portrayed by Julia Roberts in the 2000 Hollywood blockbuster) to Boston to speak at a ticketed breakfast about cleaning up the environment for a healthier future. If you saw the movie, you know Brockovich’s mission is to get the word out about cancer-causing chemicals and the need to eradicate them.
Find the Cause’s breakfast event will held Oct. 3 from 7:30 to 10 a.m. I invite you to join Erin, Ellie and many other caring friends, including honorary committee members: Tufts University School of Medicine Dean Dr. Harris Berman; state Sen. Jamie Eldridge; dean of Boston University School of Public Health Dr. Sandro Galea; Terri Partridge; state Rep. Chris Walsh.
Tickets are $125; register here or call 508-877-4543. The event takes place at the Boston Marriott Newton, 2345 Commonwealth Ave., Newton.
And by all means, bring some friends. The more of us who join in this fight, the more chance we have to stop the disease.
