Press Release: Making Strides “Blossoms of Hope”

Making Strides season is about to kick off!

The 2016 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (MSABC) Across Second Life season is about to kick off and we invite you to join with us!

This year’s theme is  “Blossoms of Hope” runs through Nov. 4, 2016.

"This year's Making Strides theme is "Blossoms of Hope," said Co-Chair Sandie Loxingly.  "We chose this theme to represent the seeds of hope that every person affected by cancer carries with them. Through our efforts in supporting Making Strides, we nurture these seeds and they blossom into a world with hope of a world of better treatments, early diagnosis and less loss from breast cancer."

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Across Second Life raises money for The American Cancer Society and is part of Relay For Life of Second Life.

Some key dates for Strides:

Sept. 1: Fundraising tools to be released
Oct. 23: Opening of the Blossoms of Hope Showcase
Oct. 29: Strides Walk starts at 10 a.m. SLT
Oct. 30: Honor Ball for Survivors & Caregivers
Nov. 4: All donations due from walk
Nov. 5: Wrap-up on Relay dAlliez sim

The 2016 Making Strides Committee is led by Leala Spire-Merchant and Sandie Loxingly. Visit the following link for a complete committee list: https://makingstridessecondlife.org/about-making-strides/organizers/

An exciting change for this year’s Strides walk is that we would like the walkers to reach out to their friends in SL and if you like real life to get sponsors for your walk.   The sponsors would agree that for every lap you walk they will pay a certain amount  to you as a donation.  The more sponsors you have the more you can raise for MSABC! Special awards will be given to top fundraisers.

Please contact Leala or Sandie in Second Life if you would like to get involved with the 2016 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer season in Second Life.

About Breast Cancer:
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.
The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is about 1 in 8. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 36. Breast cancer death rates have been going down. This is probably the result of finding the cancer earlier and better treatment. Right now there are more than 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.
The American Cancer Society estimates for breast cancer in men in the United States for 2016 are:
About 2,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed
About 440 men will die from breast cancer
Breast cancer is about 100 times less common among men than among women. For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000. The number of breast cancer cases in men relative to the population has been fairly stable over the last 30 years.

About Making Strides Against Breast Cancer:
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer or MSABC is the largest network of breast cancer awareness events in the nation, uniting more than 300 communities to finish the fight. Every breast cancer walk and event is an incredible and inspiring opportunity to honor those who have battled breast cancer, raise awareness about what we can do to reduce our breast cancer risk, and race money to help the American Cancer Society fight the disease with research, information, services, and access to mammograms for women who need them.

About The American Cancer Society:
For more than 100 years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has worked relentlessly to save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together with millions of our supporters worldwide, we help people stay well, help people get well, find cures, and fight back against cancer.

For more information please visit the sites below:
https://makingstridessecondlife.org/
http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/
http://www.cancer.org/