By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – Throughout October, men around the country are raising money to help fight breast cancer through the Real Men Wear Pink campaign.
October is breast cancer awareness month, and Tim Bassett with CarleBroMenn Medical Center said this is his third year of helping fight breast cancer.
“It’s a platform for men to leverage their networks to support treatment, education, and research for the American Cancer Society and also have a little bit of fun doing it. (So) essentially the ask is, every day of October, an Ambassador would wear pink through the course of the month and then utilize that as a conversation with folks to raise funding for the American Cancer Society.
In 2021, that more than 280,000 women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer. In addition, it’s estimated that just under 44,000 women will die from breast cancer this year.
“In Central Illinois, we’ve crossed over the $50,000 threshold, which is admirable, but we still have a long way to go,” Bassett, who is this year’s co-chair of the platform, told WJBC’s, Scott Miller. “As you can imagine, that education, the research, support for those that are afflicted with cancer it takes a lot of resources, in particular, the funding associated with it. The American Cancer Society fulfills all those functions as it relates to breast cancer.”
Since its inception, the Real Men Wear Pink campaign has raised more than $40 million.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
