There is nothing more devastating than to go to the doctor and to be told that you have cancer. The second worst thing is to tell your family that you have this killer disease.

In 2009, 40,170 woman and 440 men died of breast cancer in this country. The good news is that 2.5 million breast cancer victims are alive and cured, or are on their way to being cured.

One of the reasons that the cure rate is so high is because of people like our readers who support the many cancer-related fundraisers that happen in our community.
We are fortunate that the Good Lord has given us the intellect to work on cures for such debilitating diseases.

We are making strides, but we need to keep cancer and its cures in the forefront of our minds and hearts. If we do, then someday you or your loved one will never have to hear from your doctor that he has found cancer in your body.

We can beat this disease. It will take your prayers and special thoughts and your volunteer time to make it happen.

To that end, we are going to run our Front Page banner in pink this month.
We're also spreading words of encouragement, sharing stories of survivors, like Trish Baker, whose heartening tale was featured Wednesday on the front page of the Covington News. You can read it at covnews.com.

If you have a success tale of your own, send it to Editor Tharon Giddens by e-mail to tgiddens@covnews.com, or go to covnews.com and upload your comments.
We will run every story.