October was “Breast Cancer Awareness” month, a time each year when celebrities speak out about their own struggles with the terrible disease. Here are just a few of the celebrities that have helped raise awareness and continue to push for a cure for an illness that will affect 1 in 8 women at some point in their lives.
Wanda Sykes, comedian and actress, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 and while her type was non-invasive the funny women still decided to have a double mastectomy. Sykes has been very honest about her own struggles saying that while at first “I was miserable…I made my decision because I love life,” siting her twin children as a major reason for getting healthy.
Singer Sheryl Crow has taken up the breast cancer awareness cause in a major way since her own diagnosis back in 2006. She donates regularly to the Sheryl Crow Imaging Center that focuses on early detection efforts and in 2008 donated $73.6 million to the research efforts of Stand Up to Cancer. Her latest efforts include a new cookbook that features cancer fighting foods called “If It Makes You Healthy.”
E! News anchor and reality show star, Giuliana Rancic announced last October that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have a double mastectomy. Since her ordeal she has spoken often about how the diagnosis changed her and the lives of the people around her. She has become passionately involved with a group called Do It For The Girls, which works to educate women on how to conduct self-examinations in the hopes of detecting the illness early on.
Elizabeth Hurley, model and actress, was in New York last month and did the honors of lighting the Empire State building pink, for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The star is also a representative for Estee Lauder’s Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, a group that has raised millions of dollars through the sale of their line of pink products for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
