First Day Of October Kicks Off Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook  | Twitter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The first day of October begins Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The number of women being diagnosed and death rates have been declining and that's mainly because of early detection, treatment advances and awareness.

Louisiana Water System Tests Positive For Brain-Eating Amoeba

Philadelphia turns pink in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month as Lincoln Financial Field and CBS3 are among many landmarks participating in the annual Komen Lights for a Cure campaign. It's designed to remind women to get annual mammograms – the best way to find breast cancer early when it's most treatable.

Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women – about 252,000 a year and the second-most deadly claiming 40,000 women annually.

Every two minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and one woman will die every 13 minutes on average.

Between 15 to 20 percent of breast cancer patients relapse.

Penn Medicine has two studies underway working to address the high rate of relapse and the late treatment effects among breast cancer survivors.

New Jersey Man Who Died Of 'Brain Eating Amoeba' Recently Visited Texas Surf Resort

The Surmount Trial aims to find better ways to identify sleeper cells in bone marrow that lead to relapse and the Clever Trial hopes to target and destroy those cells with oral medications.

Over 3.3 million breast cancer survivors are alive in the United States today. Less than 10 have a family history and the biggest risk factor is age.