After struggling with breast cancer for three years, my mother walked the survivors lap in her local Relay for Life with my grandmother. They both were able to beat breast cancer, which makes them luckier than many other women.

May is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but as a woman with breast cancer in her family, I’m constantly aware of the risks that I face in my future.

Over the last two years, I’ve been learning all I can about breast cancer, how to prevent it and what causes it. Don’t think that just because you don’t have a history of breast cancer in your family that you’re not at risk. You are. Every woman is at risk. The lifetime risk of any woman getting breast cancer is 12 percent. Of course there are factors that increase your risk. Even without considering these factors, one out of every eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in her life.
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