Susan G. Komen for the Cure
FACT SHEET



2009 U.S. Breast Cancer Facts
  • One in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.


  • An estimated 192,370 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the U.S. in 2009.


  • An estimated 1,910 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in the U.S. in 2009


  • An estimated 40,170 women and 440 men will die from breast cancer in the U.S. in 2009.


  • About 1.3 million women are diagnosed globally each year. (At this rate, 32.5 million women will be diagnosed during the next 25 years.)


  • Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in the U.S. ages 40-59.


  • The five-year survival rate for breast cancer, when caught early before it spreads beyond the breast, is now 98 percent (compared to 74 percent in 1982).

Where We've Been    Where We Are Now
1982 Susan G. Komen for the Cure holds its first fund-raising event, a women's polo tournament and lawn party, and awards its first grants totaling $30,000 to M.D. Anderson in Houston and Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

 2007 Together with its Affiliate Network, corporate partners and generous donors, Komen for the Cure has invested nearly $1 billion for the fight against breast cancer. More than 80 cents of every dollar spent by Komen supports mission programs and services.
1983 The first Komen Race for the Cure® is held in Dallas, with 800 participants. 2007 The Komen Race for the Cure® Series, the world's largest and most successful education and fund-raising event for breast cancer, now includes more than 100 Races in the U.S. and two international countries. This year, more than 1.3 million people are expected to participate in Komen's signature awareness and fundraising event.
1989 Komen expands its grassroots approach by adding its first "chapter" outside of the Dallas area in San Francisco. Chapters are renamed Affiliates six years later.

2007 Komen has more than 75,000 activists and survivors working through a network of more than 100 U.S. and international Affiliates, making it the largest grassroots organization in breast cancer today.
1989 1.800 I'M AWARE®, Komen's National Toll-Free Breast Care Helpline, is established to provide callers response to questions, local resources and moral support.

 2007 The 1.877 GO KOMEN® Helpline is answered by trained, caring activists and survivors whose lives have been personally touched by breast cancer. Patients and their loved ones receive information on a wide range of breast health and breast cancer issues in both English and Spanish.