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TO DECLARE MONDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2017, AS "LOLA BROWN BREAST SELF-CHECK DAY" IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND TO SEEK TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PERFORMING MONTHLY SELF-EXAMS FOR WOMEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF EIGHTEEN AND FORTY.
Whereas, the Lola Brown Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was created with a commitment to increasing breast cancer awareness and providing better education for young women on how to notice the signs of breast cancer earlier; and
Whereas, the foundation is dedicated to providing certified healthcare professionals to educate young women on the importance of and proper techniques for performing breast self-exams; and
Whereas, a breast self-exam is when a woman checks her own breasts for lumps, changes in size and shape of the breast, or any other changes or abnormalities. Breast self-exams allow women to recognize how their breasts normally look so they can more easily detect any abnormalities; and
Whereas, a part of the breast and female work group of the South Carolina Cancer Alliance (SCCA), the Lola Brown Foundation was named for an African American woman, Lola Brown, who, at the young age of twenty-eight, discovered a lump in her breast during a self-exam. Her early detection of this allowed her to live for ten more years, before passing at the age of thirty-eight. Because of her experiences, Lola stressed the importance of early detection and raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer research and awareness. She also sought to educate young women that they too could be diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of forty; and
Whereas, according to the SCCA, nearly four thousand women are diagnosed with breast cancer and six hundred seventy die from the disease each year in South Carolina. Nationwide, approximately seventy thousand men and women between the ages of fifteen and thirty-nine are diagnosed with cancer, with breast cancer as the most common for women in this age group. Statistics from the Young Survival Coalition show women between fifteen and fifty-four die more frequently from breast cancer than any other cancer, and that younger women typically face more aggressive cancers with lower survival rates; and
Whereas, because South Carolina ranks thirteenth in the nation for breast cancer deaths, the Lola Brown Foundation's focus is breast health education and awareness. The SCCA has found that exercise, weight control, and a healthy lifestyle can decrease the risk of breast cancer; and
Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives understand the importance of increasing awareness of breast cancer and encourage all women to perform monthly self-exams in order to increase their chances of early detection for this disease. Furthermore, the members commend the work the Lola Brown Foundation has done and the steps it has made to educate young women. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, declare Monday, October 23, 2017, as "Lola Brown Breast Self-Check Day" in South Carolina and seek to increase awareness of the importance of performing monthly self-exams for women between the ages of eighteen and forty.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to the Lola Brown Foundation.
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