October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an opportunity to focus on lifestyle and risk factors associated with breast cancer, as well as the importance of breast cancer screening.

In the United States, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women, aside from skin cancers. It is also the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. On a very personal level, breast cancer impacted me and my family directly in 1979, when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was a fighter and lived almost another 10 years before succumbing to the effects of this insidious disease.

Breast cancer is also the most commonly diagnosed cancer for New Mexico women. The New Mexico Department of Health reported that in 20

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