Prevention

About a month ago, my husband told me of a deep (and heated) discussion that my two neighbors had gotten into after my husband and one of the neighbors had ridden in the Peletonia, a fund raising bike ride for cancer research. One of the neighbors is the county health commissioner. The other neighbor teaches chemistry and physics at an area high school. The county commissioner felt that less funds should go for cancer research (the the eye toward finding a cure) and more for prevention; whereas the other neighbor wanted research to find a cure.

I was flabbergasted. Prevention? Then I started thinking more about it. Both make absolute sense, and certainly, the health commissioner's viewpoint is absolutely understandable, even if he himself is a prostate cancer survivor.

The Army of Women takes the viewpoint that we have spent billions of dollars trying to cure breast cancer, yet we don't know what causes it. If we discover what causes it, then we can stop it before it starts. Makes sense doesn't it? I'd rather than no one go down the road I've been going on. In addition, if we knew more about what causes it, then doesn't it follow that a cure wouldn't be too far behind?

To that end, the Army of Women connects researchers with study candidates through the internet. Usually, recruitment for people to participate in studies takes years. Through the efforts of the Army of Women, researchers have been able to find their participants in 48 hours. Cool, huh?

The salient points of the Army of Women:

• The Love/Avon Army of Women (AOW) is a unique program of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit breast cancer research organization. The program is funded through a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women. The AOW provides an opportunity for men and women to take part in breast cancer research studies aimed at determining the causes of breast cancer – and how to prevent it. The AOW is a groundbreaking initiative that connects breast cancer researchers via the internet with women who are willing to participate in a wide variety of research studies. The goal of the Army of Women is to recruit ONE MILLION MEN AND WOMEN of all ages and ethnicities, including breast cancer survivors and those who have never had breast cancer.

• Men are able to sign up for the Army of Women.

· Make sure that women know they are signing up to be added to the Army of Women database to hear about research projects – signing up for the Army of Women does NOT sign them up for a study yet.

· The Army of Women Research Studies are prevention based, not clinical trials.

· Participants must be 18 and older – but we need ALL ethnicities – ALL ages, we need healthy women, women with cancer and women who are survivors.

There is no cost. They aren't raising money. Participants can be asked to fill out a questionaire, or to give blood samples (at no cost to them), it all depends on the particular study.

Join at www.army of women.org

Then, invite a friend. I'd rather that we have an Army of people preventing cancer larger than the army of people who have been touched by cancer.....however, I think both are important. Take this step today. I did and I have participated in two of their studies, and I hope that I am eligible for more.