BATON ROUGE — In an effort to raise awareness and money for the world’s most common cause of cancer death in women, the 20th-ranked LSU volleyball team kicks off its inaugural “Dig for the Cure” campaign this week as the Tigers prepare to host Alabama on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
The month-long campaign will help to raise money for breast cancer awareness through the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation, formerly known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Donations will be accepted throughout the month of October, which has been designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with the proceeds of the campaign going directly to the Komen Foundation.
Fans are asked to make pledges at any of the SEC matches in October for every dig the Tigers record against Alabama and Arkansas, or they can make direct monetary contributions at any of the SEC matches. Representatives from the Komen Foundation will be on hand at the matches to accept donations, along with several fan friendly fundraisers that will help raise money throughout the month.
The “Dig for the Cure” campaign was originally started in 2003 by Charlotte head coach Lisa Marston, whose mother was a breast cancer survivor, and has spread to volleyball programs across the country in recent years. Last year, the campaign raised over $72,000 nationally.
As part of the LSU campaign, against the Crimson Tide and the Lady Razorbacks, admission is FREE for any fan wearing pink. Both the LSU and Alabama teams will warm up in specially designed pink shirts and the Tigers will don the shirts again, along with Arkansas, against the Lady’Backs on Oct. 19 as the Tigers close out their campaign.
The first 200 fans against Alabama will also receive a Piggy Bank that they are encouraged to take home and collect change in throughout the month. Fans are then asked to bring those filled piggy banks to the match against Arkansas and donate the spare change to breast cancer research. Fans returning their piggy banks will receive free admission and, after making their donation, will get to keep their piggy banks. Those returning the change from their piggy banks will also have a chance to win great prizes throughout the Arkansas match.
In addition, fans can donate a quarter to the special wishing well at the Ole Miss match on Oct. 17 and have the opportunity to have their LSU wish come true. Among the wish items that will be available is an LSU volleyball autographed by the nationally ranked Tiger team.
Several of the special pink warm-up shirts will also be autographed by the LSU volleyball team and auctioned off through the LSU athletics auction website, LSUauction.net, starting Monday and ending Friday, Oct. 12.
The Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation was established in 1982 by Nancy Brinker to honor the memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure and Dig for the Cure, the foundation has invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill the promise of becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.
From the 1940’s until recently, the rate of new cases of breast cancer in the United States increased by a little over one percent a year. In the 1980’s, the rate of new cases rose markedly, likely due to increased screening, and during the 1990’s, the rate of new cases leveled off. Recent data presented at the 2006 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium shows a steep rate of decline in new cases in 2003.
Although these statistics are encouraging, an estimated 178,480 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women in 2007 alone. In 1975, the incidence of breast cancer was 107 per 100,000 for white women and 94 per 100,000 for black women. Twenty-eight years later in 2003, the number of new cases per year had risen to 125 per 100,000 for white women and 116 per 100,000 for black women.
Even though incidence increased during that 28-year period, mortality for white women decreased. In 1975, 32 per 100,000 white women died of breast cancer, but by 2003, the figure had declined to 24.6. For black women, though, mortality increased over the same period, rising from 30 per 100,000 black women in the population in 1975 to 34.1 per 100,000 in 2003.
For more information about breast health or breast cancer, visit the Foundation’s award-winning Web site at www.komen.org or call the Foundation’s National Toll-Free Breast Care Helpline at 1.800 I’M AWARE?.(1.800.462.9273).
If you are interested in making a donation or would like more information about the event, call LSU assistant volleyball coach Jill Lytle Wilson at (225) 578-5059 or email her at jwilson1@lsu.edu or contact Emily Thornton in the LSU Marketing and Promotions office at (225) 578-8960 or by email at Thornton@lsu.edu.