October is, of course, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
According to the CDC, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women, and twice as prevalent as lung cancer, which is in the #2 position. (Regrettably, I can’t link directly to the stats, you’ll have to play with the selectors near the top of the page.)
Of course, even though Breast Cancer gets more press, it is (of course) important to remember that there are many other other types. The media seems to be picking up on that.
Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma on TV.
Early in the month, Angela discovered that on the show “Brothers and Sisters,” they’ve added a cancer storyline where one of the characters has Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. (This touches particularly close to home for Angela since that’s the type of cancer she beat two years ago. She’s been comparing it to her own real-life experience.)
Lung Cancer in the comics
Also early in the month, I was surprised to find a cancer story line in User Friendly in which one of the characters is diagnosed with lung cancer. UF is an online comic strip following the adventures of a small Canadian Internet Service Provider, so a lot of the humor is geared toward techies. Illiad has occasionally touched on serious subjects, so I was curious what he’d do with this topic.
I was quite pleased by how the subject was treated respectfully, yet Illiad still managed to sneak in some geek humor including (so far) a Monty Python reference, a Star Wars reference, and a few others.
Collected Links: