October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and what better way to start off the month than The Susan G. Komen Walk? From October 4-6, the walkers covered 60 miles over the course of three days to raise money for research for the cure of breast cancer.

There are many other events that are happening in our area in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Though the month is close to ending and events like Dining Out for Breast Cancer (October 15-17), in which local restaurants donated 5% of their proceeds to Main Line Health, and the Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk (October 19) have already passed, we know of one other way you can help.

On Thursday, October 24^th, Unite Fitness will open their doors for donation classes to raise funds for the Linda Creed Foundation. This local organization helps underprivileged women get access to mammograms, treatment and support. The classes will be pay-what-you-want and will run all day. Unite Fitness has two locations, one in Center City (105 South 12^th Street) and another in Mount Laurel (3 Hovtech Boulevard).

To give some perspective on the disease for which October raises awareness, here are some statistics. Did you know that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime? Each year, more than 200,000 cases of breast cancer in women and nearly 2,000 cases in men are diagnosed just in the United States. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the second most common kind of cancer in women.

The key to beating the odds of breast cancer is making sure that you find its presence early on, like by getting a mammogram, which is an X-ray of the breast to check for breast cancer. Throughout 2013, The Susan G. Komen Foundation predicts that there will be 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer, 64,640 new cases of in situ breast cancer, and 39,620 deaths from breast cancer.

I have a personal stake in these statistics. Six years ago, my mother experienced the pain and horror of breast cancer. I was in third grade when I was told about this devastating news. At the time, I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure if my mother was going to survive or pass away. I watched my mother as she went through the illness, her hair falling out, hospital visits, surgery, chemotherapy, and finally recovery.

I am very grateful that my mother is still with me. If she wasn’t here today, I don’t know how I would go on with my life. My story is just one of the many stories of survivors of breast cancer.