I received an email inviting me to participate in Blog for Breasts Day to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month and thought it was a worthy cause to support and take part in. I had one or two great aunts die due to having breast cancer and would love to do something to help other women in my family and otherwise be saved from ever getting breast cancer.

We cannot cure something if we do not know what we are curing. That is why the Army of Women hopes to STOP CANCER BEFORE IT STARTS. By enlisting ONE MILLION WOMEN to participate in breast cancer research, we will be able to finally take the research out of the lab and look at real women. This will enable us to finally find the causes of breast cancer and ultimately figure out how to prevent it all together. Billions of dollars have been spent on breast cancer research to date, but we still don’t know what causes it. While many advances in treatment have been made, our goal is to eradicate it once and for all, by preventing it in the first place. We discovered that cervical cancer was caused by a virus, the HUMAN papillomavirus . The way we discovered the cause of cervical cancer was by studying WOMEN. With a lot less money, and in a lot less time, we now have a cure because we now know WHAT to cure. We need to follow the same path and move breast cancer beyond a cure.

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.

If you choose to sign up at AOW you will be added to their database to hear about research projects—signing up for the AOW does not sign you up a study yet. These research studies are prevention based, not clinical trials and they desire all enthnicities, all ages 18 and older, healthy women, women with cancer and women who are survivors.

There is absolutely no cost to join to take part in something this important. They are not asking for donations, although I am sure if you are inclined they would be very grateful. They just want women to sign up and agree to hear about studies. Participation in any study is always, completely voluntary. We get to choose which studies we participate in. Type of commitment: Studies will require a variety of different things (we may be asked anything from filling out an online questionnaire to being asked for a blood sample). It all varies according to study.

So if you are interested in getting involved sign up at AOW and be sure to recruit friends and family by urging them to use the “invite a friend” link: https://www.armyofwomen.org/invitefriend