Vikings Punter Jeff Locke Stops By WCCO To Promote Breast Cancer Awareness
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- You may have noticed during Minnesota Vikings games, the players are showing off a lot of pink.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the NFL is helping to raise awareness It's partnership with the American Cancer Society focuses on the importance for women to get annual screenings.
One Vikings player paid a visit to WCCO studios Tuesday for a friendly reminder.
"In Minnesota there will probably be 4,000 new breast cancers this year," Dr. Joe Tashjian said.
Dr. Joe Tashjian says breast cancer is the most common type of cancer women get.
"We know about one in three women who get cancer get breast cancer," Tashjian said.
Although some experts say mammograms should be less frequent, Dr. Tashjian recommends women to start yearly screenings at the age of 40.
"The longer we wait the fewer cancers we will diagnose and the early cancers in the younger women we will miss," Tashjian said.
And the only way to get a screening, is to schedule one. We were reminded of that Tuesday when Vikings punter Jeff Locke intercepted the day's news promos.
"There are many tumors that are slow-growing, the problem is we can't tell which ones those are," Tashjian said.
Dr. Tashjian says it's a bigger shame to miss a fast-growing tumor, which poses a health threat.
"To not treat people because some of them might be slow-growing cancers just does not make any sense," he said.
And all it takes is one simple phone call to know where you stand against breast cancer.
Dr. Tashjian says anxiety plays a big role in why a lot of women limit their screenings. He says anxiety from mammograms doesn't compare to the stress and harm from missing a cancer diagnoses.
