A pink ribbon symbolizes breast cancer awareness. The merging of ribbon and symbolism in the United States came about in two huge leaps. The first occurred in 1979 when a wife of a hostage who had been taken in Iran was inspired to tie yellow ribbons around the trees in her front yard, signaling her desire to see her husband come home again. Step two occurred 11 years later, when AIDS activists looked at the yellow ribbons that had been resurrected for soldiers fighting the Gulf War and turned the ribbon bright red, looped it, spruced it up and sent it onto the national stage during the Tony awards to represent those affected by AIDS.
Here are the fast facts about breast cancer as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Each year in the United States, about 264,000 women get breast cancer and 42,000 women die from the disease.
- Men also get breast cancer, but it is not very common. About 1 out of every 100 breast cancers diagnosed in the United States is found in a man.
- Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older, but breast cancer also affects younger women.
