Two years ago when Wendy Stahl was a sophomore, her mother Abbe was diagnosed with breast cancer.

At the time Stahl never imagined her mother would die from the disease, but last summer Abbe lost her battle with cancer at age 57.

Stahl’s mom was among the 40,460 American women who, according to the American Cancer Society, will die from breast cancer this year.

In honor of her mother, Stahl promised herself that she would do all she could to raise awareness and support the fight against breast cancer.

As part of her commitment to the cause, she signed up to create a team for Elon to participate in Passionately Pink for the Cure, a program sponsored by the advocacy group Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Through an initiative she called “Pink Out Elon,” Stahl asked the Elon community to join her and support the fight against breast cancer by wearing pink on Oct. 23 to promote awareness and encourage donations to find the cure for this disease.

“I wanted to see people wearing pink, I wanted my mom to know,” Stahl said. “When I saw the people wearing pink, it felt good to know that people care.”

With the help of students, faculty and staff members who became involved in her initiative, Stahl raised $800 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.

Stahl said that it is hard to get people involved in a cause if they are not affected by it.

Elon women might not feel they are in any way related to this disease, because it usually affects older women. Living longer is a strong contributor for a woman to develop breast cancer because age brings more exposure to cancer causing agents, such as the estrogen hormone.

For women in their early twenties, it is hard to believe that it could happen to them or any of their loved ones. But the chances of being affected by breast cancer are higher than most would like to imagine.

According to the American Cancer Society, without a cure, chances are that one in eight women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer at some point in her life. This means that nearly 400 of the female students currently enrolled at Elon will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 80 of them could die if a cure isn’t found.

Breast cancer touches millions of lives and is diagnosed every day. The hope for finding the cure is in the hands of the people who care enough to contribute to the cause by making donations or creating awareness about this disease.

Stahl said she wishes she was more passionate about the cause before it affected her mother.

Reporter: Madelaine de la Ossa - 11/07/07