The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation is marking 30 years during “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” but its president and CEO, Karine-Iseult Ippersiel, says the battle is far from over.
From 1994 to 2021, the number of diagnoses has doubled.
“The incidence of breast cancer is still increasing, so it’s one in eight. It’s an average of 6,500 women every year that will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. And unfortunately, it’s still one in 36 that will die from their breast cancer. So that’s about 1,300 women per year in Quebec alone,” said Ippersiel.
She emphasizes that early detection is key, and the foundation is supporting research that can predict breast cancer risk based on factors like age, breast density, and family history.
“We do a saliva test to check over 300 markers. All that combined gives us a personalized risk factor on which we could base your screening, …