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In this first full week of October, awesome colors abound. Vibrant shades of red, orange, green and yellow will soon mix amid the leaf-filled landscape to create a mesmerizing melange of splendor.
Over the past three decades, however, pink has upstaged the traditional autumn color palette. That’s because pink affixed to ribbons, clothing, banners, buildings and more symbolizes the increasingly robust campaign each October to fight breast cancer in our community and in our nation.
The Mahoning Valley can take pride in the overwhelming and compassionate commitment it makes in October ---- and throughout the year ---- to raise awareness, to expand treatment opportunities and to increase the ranks of breast-cancer survivors. During this 34th annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month, pink will become the color of choice to increase public visibility of the disease and to draw attention to this community’s aggressive and energetic commitment to rein it in.
And rein it in we have. According to the National Cancer Institute’s April 2026 updates on county cancer profiles, the Mahoning Valley has witnessed a decline in breast cancer cases and deaths in recent years.
In Mahoning County, data show the breast cancer mortality rate has declined from 20.7 per 100,000 people in 2018 to 18.2 today. In Trumbull County, that rate fell from 20.6 to 19.9. Both rates are well below statewide averages.
One reason behind those optimistic figures may well be found on Youngstown’s North Side. There, the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center stands as the crown jewel of the commitment to wage full-scale war on breast cancer. The 15-year-old state-of-the-art treatment facility stands as a vital cog of St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
In its relatively short life span, the $8 million center has saved countless lives and has garnered praise from near and far. Its mission has attracted phenomenal community support, as evidenced by the 10,000 runners and walkers who turned out five weeks ago for the 2026 Panerathon, the largest fundraising event in the Mahoning Valley that thus far has raised more than $6 million for the center.
But this pink-ribbon month of awareness extends far beyond support for Joanie Abdu. Many groups in the community have embraced the nationwide campaign. Businesses, nonprofit charities and college organizations have united behind the pink banner.
On Sunday, Pink Out Mahoning Valley officially launched Breast Cancer Awareness Month in our region with a free concert and festival at Austintown Township Park. Also on Sunday, 1,000 breast cancer survivors and their supporters trekked proudly through 717 Credit Union Field at Eastwood for the fourth annual Pink Lights the Way Cupcake Walk. Today, the Tribune Chronicle begins its annual set of feature stories on local breast cancer survivors on Page B8.
To be sure, Breast Cancer Awareness Month has grown in volume and in passion since first observed in 1992 when Self magazine editor Alexandra Penney used a pink ribbon to draw attention to the cause. But just as 34 years ago, the mission of the monthlong movement remains clear: The fight to cure the disease must be won.
Breast cancer is a cancer in which cells in the breast tissue divide and grow without normal control. Except for skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. About 1 in 8 women can expect to be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the disease kills about 200,000 American women annually.
In the Mahoning Valley, Ohio and most of the nation, breast cancer ranks second only to lung cancer in scope. In addition, many old wives’ tales surround the disease. That’s why a continued strong outpouring of local activism for education, outreach and research remains critical.
Opportunities abound this month to continue the momentum. For our part, this newspaper colored its print editions in pink on the first day of the month. Coming up next Monday is the Junior League of the Mahoning Valley’s giant 31st annual Pink Ribbon Tea at Waypoint in Canfield, at which hundreds of breast cancer survivors are expected to attend.
Yet for those few out there who grumble that coloring October in pink represents one cheesy, tacky and overdone strategy to fight a serious disease, we say baloney.
The strides made over the past three decades prove otherwise. What’s more, if one pink-lighted building, one pink poster or one pink ribbon reminds one high-risk woman of the need to schedule a mammogram, the value of pink-ribbon month will have more than proved its worth.
SCRIPTURE
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have
been saved).
Ephesians 2:4-5 NKJV