1 of 8 women get breast cancer. Around 340,000 people in the United States get breast cancer, and around 42,000 women die from it. Breast cancer is something that deeply affects those who have it and those who have family and or friends who have it.
Mrs. Jessica White, a preschool para at Louisville Elementary, was diagnosed on February 14th, 2025, with Invasive ductal carcinoma stage 1c. She has gone through all her chemotherapy but is now going through bisphosphonate transfusions, injections, and medicine to prevent her from getting cancer again.
It doesn't just affect the people with breast cancer. It also affects those who have family members with cancer. Sophomore Alexis Clements's mom has had a very rare and aggressive type of cancer. Her mom battled against stage three triple-negative breast cancer.
Clements had to take over and help her mom with things that other teenagers don’t have to worry about. Some things were more difficult for her while helping her mom.
Clements states,“ Having to take over her responsibilities because she couldn't do it anymore. Like taking care of my sister and making sure the house was clean. Chemobrain is a very real thing. So my mom would forget all the time, so I had to set alarms for her to take her medicine, or to go and pick up my sister. It's just little things like that…Something you have to remember is when someone is going through chemotherapy it's not really them in their true form, it's something taking over their body. You just have to be patient.”
Some of these treatments can cause hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows to fall out. So sometimes from an outside perspective, it might just look like they lost their hair. But it is far more for women with breast cancer.
Mrs. White states, “It feels like you're losing your womanhood… I lost my eyelashes, my hair, my breasts, and now my overies… I felt like all of femininity was being taken away.”
There are so many different ways you can approach showing your support and spreading awareness about breast cancer, in and out of school. In school, we do pink out games, and we hand out roses to people who have battled or are currently battling breast cancer, or people who have been affected by it. But outside of school is when you have more opportunities to show your support. You can do this by donating money to an organization that helps breast cancer patients, becoming an advocate, volunteering, and helping women see that they are still women, no matter what they are going through.
Mrs. White states,“ I like that they do the pink out game… Maybe we could just have a table with little ribbons on a table and everyone grabs one and puts one on their way in.”
Support sometimes needs an inside point of view to help see what actually makes people feel seen. When Clements was told about Mrs. White's idea Clements was very interested in her idea.
Clements states, “ I love that idea, I think that it would be a good way to show support. I know that my mom would enjoy that too. But I do overall think that the school shows a lot of support. I do think there could always be more, but I like how every sport has a certain month or game they show support. Even when Hays wears his pink vest. It's comforting in a way.”
There are so many things that we take for granted. When you wake up in the morning, most people don't think about it and go on with their everyday life. But, for some, waking up in the morning is a bigger deal than you might think.
Mrs White states, “ I see things a little differently. I know it sounds silly but I appreciate seeing the sun in the morning.. You just begin to appreciate nature and you're just so busy all the time you just have to stop and think.”
When you're growing up there are so many different check ups and doctor visits that need to be done. They might seem scary, but don't miss out on them. You never know if they could make you aware of something you would have never known about until it was too late.
Mrs. White's word of advice is, “Don't be afraid to go in and have your mammogram, I did wait a year and a half because I thought I was healthy, I would have never known… So just make sure to take care of yourself… it is important to take care of others but you need to take care of yourself. Because you are important.”