This past Saturday, Alliance held the annual Dig Pink volleyball tournament. This tournament included: Alliance, Chadron, Scottsbluff, Gering, Sidney and Lexington. Each team member and fan was encouraged to wear pink to support breast cancer awareness.

I talked to Pam Cyza, a breast cancer survivor about some things she went through while in treatment, what things our community could do to help raise awareness and what women can do to help prevent breast cancer.

Having only been married for three months at the time of diagnosis, Pam said her husband Jim was her biggest supporter. She also received tremendous support from her other family, friends and the community. She had surgery in Omaha and went through six months of chemo therapy. The community has done a great job spreading the word about Breast Cancer. Jane’s Closet is a wonderful organization that not only helps those going through cancer, but is a great resource.

We celebrate Beast Cancer Awareness in October, so we see a lot of pink now, but, the color of pink is associated with Breast Cancer. So you can wear pink in May and still promote awareness.

When asked how women can prevent breast cancer, Pam said “women can prevent breast cancer by taking care of themselves, doing those monthly self-breast examines, and going to the doctor if they feel they have a problem.”  The proceeds from our t-shirt money will go to Jane’s Closet. We still have some shirts left if anyone is interested!