October is a busy month.
This month is breast cancer awareness month.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society more than 70 Canadian women are diagnosed with breast cancer each day and on average 14 Canadian women will die from it every day.
Also, 230 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and 55 will die from breast cancer. These stats hit home for me. Breast cancer took the life of one of my grandmothers and my other grandma is currently fighting it.
My mother is also a breast cancer survivor. I can only hope that a cure is found soon, but in the meantime I’ll be doing self checks and trying to raise awareness for others to do the same. So grab your tatas!
The Canadian Cancer Society also says that screening tests help find breast cancer before any symptoms develop. When breast cancer is found and treated early, the chances of successful treatment are better.
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October is also Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
A recent study shows that 11 to 15 per cent of Canadian couples have infertility, that’s almost one in six couples.
Not being able to get pregnant or having a miscarriage is a terrible thing to go through and can be very painful.
This is a friendly reminder to everyone that it is never okay to ask a woman when she is planning on getting pregnant. It might seem innocent but there are so many reasons couples can’t or don’t want to talk about it.
As soon as I got married people would ask me constantly when we were planning on starting a family. And after I had my first baby, people started asking me when I was going to have another.
Thankfully, and luckily, I’ve never had a problem getting or staying pregnant but I know some of my friends have. It becomes awkward and can be hurtful to try to dodge questions about starting a family. If a woman wants to talk to you about when she is planning on having kids, she will start the conversation.
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We just celebrated Thanksgiving and it is a great time to reflect on everything we are thankful for. I’m extremely grateful for my family and for my health.
Next up is Halloween and I’m pretty sure the best part of being a parent is getting to be a kid again. I can’t wait to take my little ones trick or treating.
@MariscaDekkema
marisca.bakker@interior-news.com
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