AGENDA ITEM #8.m
Proclamation in Recognition of
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH,
OCTOBER 2026
WHEREAS, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, and a woman in this country faces a one-in-eight chance of developing breast cancer over the course of her lifetime and a one-in-forty-three chance of dying from it; and
WHEREAS, breast cancer is not a disease of women alone — roughly 2,670 men in the United States are expected to be diagnosed in 2026 and about 530 to die of the disease — and stigma and low awareness remain barriers to timely detection and care for men, transgender, and non-binary residents; and
WHEREAS, Marin County reported among the highest breast cancer incidence rates in the United States for much of the period from the 1970s onward, making this disease a matter of sustained and deeply personal concern for the residents of Fairfax and our neighboring communities; and
WHEREAS, decades of local research, advocacy, and public health effort have since accompanied a substantial decline in both breast cancer incidence and breast cancer mortality in Marin County, demonstrating what sustained community attention to a disease can accomplish; and
WHEREAS, early detection remains the most effective tool available, and regular screening mammography beginning at age 40 — or earlier for those at elevated risk — markedly improves the chance of survival; and
WHEREAS, Black women in the United States remain more likely to die of breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group, and barriers of cost, language, insurance status, transportation, and provider access continue to shape who is screened and who is diagnosed in time; and
WHEREAS, between 20 and 30 percent of those diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will go on to develop metastatic breast cancer, for which there is at present no cure, and October 13 is recognized nationally as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and October 17 through 23 as Men’s Breast Cancer Awareness Week; and
AGENDA ITEM #8.m
WHEREAS, approximately four million breast cancer survivors live in the United States today — among them neighbors, friends, colleagues, and family of Fairfax residents — and this month is experienced differently by each of them, as solidarity by some and as an unwelcome reminder by others, all of which deserves the Town’s respect; and WHEREAS, MarinHealth and the MarinHealth Foundation, whose screening and diagnostic fund covers mammography, ultrasound, MRI, and biopsy for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured patients; Zero Breast Cancer, founded in Marin County in 1996 as Marin Breast Cancer Watch; the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services, which established the Marin Women’s Study in response to community concern over local rates; and the Marin Center for Independent Living, through its Mary Mathews Breast Cancer and Advocacy Project, each serve residents of Fairfax and of this County, and deserve the Town’s recognition and thanks; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Fairfax wishes to encourage every resident to understand their own risk, to obtain recommended screening, and to stand with those living with this disease; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Council of the Town of Fairfax hereby proclaims the month of October 2026 as BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH in the Town of Fairfax, and calls upon all residents to learn their personal risk, to schedule the screening recommended for them, to support those living with breast cancer and those grieving a loss from it, and to join in the continuing effort to bring this disease to an end.
Signed on this 7th day of October 2026
Stephanie Hellman
Mayor of Fairfax