In honor of breast cancer awareness month, I decided to get in a celebrity substance story on Christina Applegate; a celebrity who supports multiple breast cancer charities, and is also a breast cancer survivor herself.
Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2008. She went through a double mastectomy even though the cancer was only in one breast. She was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer after her doctor scheduled an MRI which helped with the early detection. Applegate has inherited a genetic mutation that riggers breast cancer and her mother is also a breast cancer survivor.
Even before her own diagnosis, in 2003 Applegate was the national spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day that raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research and treatment. Since her diagnosis, she has signed on as the 2009 national ambassador for the campaign. Lee National Denim Day was started in 1996 when several Lee Jeans employees realized that each of them had been touched by breast cancer somehow. They decided to create the Lee National Denim Day, which has become one of the largest single-day fundraisers for breast cancer. On one Friday in October, Lee invited employees to donate $5 to help fight breast cancer and wear jeans to work. The first year, they had a goal to raise $1 million dollars. The company exceeded their goal: they had 3,000 companies sign up to participate and raise $1.4 million dollars. Since that first year, Lee National Denim Day has raised more than $75 million dollars in the fight to end breast cancer.
In addition to her acting as the ambassador Lee National Denim Day, Applegate started making roses out of ribbons as a therapy tool during her stay in the hospital for her treatment. She learned to make the roses as a little girl and started making them to help her through her recovery. While in the hospital, Applegate would have people who would visit her make the roses as well. She gathered all the ribbons together for an auction to benefit the Christina Applegate foundation called RightActionForWomen.org. Applegate founded the organization to help raise funds for other organizations that are set up to help find a cure for the disease.
According to the website, more than 250,000 women in American under the age of 40 are breast cancer survivors, showing that it is not a disease that affects only women over 40.
