Last week I had my yearly mammogram.  Usually, I don’t think much about it.  It’s just something that I do.  In fact, I worry more about getting all the way across town than I do about the results of my test.  This year, however, when my doctor disappeared for longer than usual, I suddenly got nervous.  What if?  Everything was fine – he just had a phone call – but it certainly gave me pause.

There is so much pink out there that it can be easy to forget that breast cancer can be deadly.  40,000 women in the US die each year from breast cancer.  I’m going to write that again: 40,000 women in the US die each year from breast cancer.  For women in the U.S., of all cancers,  only lung cancer has a  higher death rate than breast cancer.

So pink and (I think offensive) slogans about boobies aside: we need to fight this disease.

That’s why I’m proud, for the second year in a row, to be participating in my friend Shari’s Bake it Happen campaign to raise both money and awareness about Breast Cancer. And you can join in too.

Here’s how:

Bake it.  Bake one of the three delicious recipes from the Bake It Happen website.  (I cannot tell a lie: we’re not big on chocolate in my family, and last year’s banana bread recipe was a hit, so I made that again this year.  I mean, when mostly, your kids tell you you’re a lousy baker, and then they REQUEST your banana bread…well, why mess with success?)

Share It: Share you yummies with others — and especially on  social media –  with the hashtag #BakeitHappen.  Every time you share a pic of your Bake it Happen treats, a $2 donation will be made to the Pink Pumpkin Patch Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. 

and the best part is: then you can WIN IT!

By participating, (and posting) you’re automatically entered to win an iPad Mini and three months of Baked By Melissa’s mini cupcakes.

So join me, and hundreds of others around the country baking, and raising sweet, sweet, cash for breast cancer research.  Together, we can Bake it Happen.